All five of the proposed public improvements in last month’s bond election won by landslide margins, with streets, police, and fire protection initiatives getting more than 70 percent of voters’ approval.
With that outcome, now seems a good time to review how these regularly occurring opportunities take place for citizens to decide what they want from the city to enhance their quality of life.
After reading some social media comments expressing concerns by some who didn’t support the proposals, I thought a deeper look was in order on how Arlington, and most other cities, pay for essential needs to serve the public.
Nearly all of these bond proposals begin with the city council appointing a citizens committee to look at current needs and ultimately make a recommendation back to the council, prioritizing those that warrant immediate consideration.
In Arlington’s case for this cycle, 19 citizens volunteered for the assignment to review potential projects. They met for five meetings – all held in public and available for anyone to attend – beginning in August of 2024.
The committee came back with a bond program that included 27 projects across five propositions totaling $200.8 million, providing an opportunity for voters to consider each of them separately.
First were street improvements for $137 million, then, police and fire public safety at $49 million, parks and recreation for $9.3 million, city administrative buildings for $3 million, and, finally, libraries at $2.4 million (some rounding here.)
The city council accepted the citizens’ committee recommendation and scheduled the election day for voters to have the final say.
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t this point in my review, it should be noted that these citizen committees usually come back to the council saying they reviewed far more projects than the final recommendations. But, had to scale back to the maximum cost that would comply with the city’s debt limits to avoid the need for an increase in the property tax rate.
Arlington’s policy is to keep total debt to less than 20 percent of the annual budget and not to finance these projects for longer than their expected useful life.
So, during the annual budget sessions – also done in public meetings – council members determine how much and how many new projects are possible in the coming fiscal year. The goal is to avoid any property tax increase from the issuance of new bonds.
The city’s financial condition is excellent, with top-tier ratings from the country’s primary bond rating agencies. That results in the immediate purchase by investors of Arlington’s municipal bonds at very low fixed interest rates for the life of the bonds.
And, if interest rates fall, the city can refinance at even more favorable costs. That frees up more money to complete more projects approved by voters sooner than first planned.
So, as a result of voters’ decisions, here is some of what we will see in the near future:
1. Street improvements, including significant residential rebuilding, intersection and sidewalk improvements, signal systems upgrades, irrigation repairs, and surveying, among others.
2. Public safety training facility design, a fire station rebuild, fire equipment replacements, dispatch radio upgrades, improvements to the main public safety center, and the East police substation.
3. In the parks and recreation sector, improvements to the Dottie Lynn Recreation Center, the River Legacy Nature Center, and overall park infrastructure upgrades.
4. Major systems replacements at City Hall for a higher level of service to residents and the business community.
5. Library improvements at the Ron Wright Lake Arlington Library, the Southeast Library, the Southwest Library, and the Woodland West Library.
Now, keep in mind that these $200 million in public infrastructure and service benefits are happening in addition to projects across the city where the results of previous years’ bond elections have set into motion much more than this latest work. All together, it results in an ever-increasing quality of life in our town.
Bond elections are currently occurring on a 3-year cycle. Enjoy the regular decisions that make this possible from an optimistic, forward-looking demonstration of Arlington’s essential “can-do” citizenry.
Richard Greene is a former mayor
of Arlington.
