City Council Approves $105M Bond Package for May 9 Ballot

The Council added the widening of a portion of DB Wood Drive, for $9M, back into the bond package after removing it 2 weeks before.  The argument being that: (1) DB Wood needs to be widened to 4 lanes to take traffic from Williams Drive and (2) the new Fire Station and Public Safety Complex on DB Wood will also increase traffic on DB Wood Drive.  The flaw in this justification is that only the portion of DB Wood between Hwy 29 and Oak Ridge Drive would be widened to 4 lanes.  The portion of DB Wood between Oak Ridge and the new Public Safety Complex will remain at 2 lanes, including the bridge across the San Gabriel river.  Therefore there will still be a couple of miles of DB Wood that is only 2 lanes and traffic capacity will not be increased!

The City staff estimates the tax impact on the average $210,000 Georgetown home in the first year is $31. However, by the 10th year, the tax bill on the average home will increase by $252.40 from the current city tax bill of $911.40.  This of course assumes a constant tax rate (unlikely) and that property values increase at 2% annual compound rate (not supported by history).  If the actual growth rate of residential property values over the past 10 years is used, the tax bill will increase by $460.85.  Here is the actual growth in residential property values as provided by city records.

Applying that growth rate (8.32%) to the average value of a home in 2015, results in an average residential value of $466,988 in 2026.

Do you expect the City Council to reduce the tax rate such that the tax bill only increases by $252.40 in 2026 as the city analysis shows?  I don't!  Therefore one should expect a 50% increase in city property taxes by 2026 due to this bond package.

Keep in mind that the City is scheduled to issue $25M+ in bonds in 2015 without voter approval and the bond debt is growing at a 10.5% rate, based on the last 10 years!  All in all, it seems the City is on a non-sustainable trajectory with respect to debt!