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Thursday
March 18, 2010 Since 1922 |
City eyes bond money to repair Kilgore Road
By Ryan Culver
Baytown Sun Published March 26, 2006 Heated debate over the 2001 street bond program Thursday could end up with voters deciding on another street bond program a few years early if council dedicates Year 4 and 5 funding of the current program to reconstructing Kilgore Road.
District 4 Councilman Don Murray said he wasn’t sure if he was inserting his head into a “noose or a hug” by expressing the idea to take the remaining funding in the $20 million street bond program, which is estimated around $6 million, and dedicating that funding to reconstruct Kilgore Road. His intuition proved true on both counts as council opinion was split.
“It was a nice suggestion,” District 2 Councilman Scott Sheley said. “If we pull out all monies then the spending in all districts is not equal.
“We should be looking at the whole city instead of a single district.”
Council members agreed with Sheley wholeheartedly pointing out that his district has received more than twice the street bond funding, just more than $4 million, than any other district in Baytown.
“The arguments I am hearing tonight are contrary than those I heard during Year 2 of the street bond program,” Mayor Calvin Mundinger said.
During Year 2, only two streets were repaired: South Pruett for around $1.6 million and North Burnet for around $940,000. Pruett is in Sheley’s district and Burnet is in District 3, which Mundinger represented before he was elected mayor in 2004.
Deputy City Manager Bob Leiper estimated Year 4 funding would be around $1.9 million. The project for Kilgore Road is estimated to cost $1.5 million for the city’s half if they can work out an agreement with Harris County. If they can’t then the cost for Kilgore Road would double, and Leiper said he thinks the cost is going to be higher than the $1.5 million anyway — the cost estimate is more than a year old and the city wants to replace the asphalt road with concrete.
“I guarantee that road is going to cost more today,” Leiper said. “The reason we prefer concrete on open ditch streets is that the edges of asphalt streets tend to crack because the roadway is weaker on the edge; asphalt has no tensile strength.”
Work on the 20 approved streets for Year 3 of the program should begin this year. Kilgore Road, which city officials recognize needs work but hasn’t put on the list yet, is a county road that passes through Districts 5 and 6.
Council could start a joint reconstruction project with Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia because Kilgore is a county road. District 6 Councilman Sammy Mahan said he hoped the city and the county could get the project going.
“They are not asking for concrete or sidewalks, they just want a new asphalt street they can get up and down without tearing up their car,” Mahan said.
Mahan said during the meeting that Kilgore Road’s asphalt top has ruts in it like you would find on an unpaved road. District 1 Councilman Mercedes Renteria III interjected.
“You just gave a brief description of my whole district,” Renteria said.
Renteria said he was against pooling all the remaining funds for the Kilgore Road project unless council could come up with some other way to get street repairs in other parts of the city too. He said traffic on the road should also be taken into consideration when picking streets for the bond program.
“I was asking for a traffic count or reasons why we want to repair Kilgore Road specifically,” Renteria said. “Is there an emergency or are we catering to the rich.
“We all want to get our streets repaired, but because of a lack of funds we have to look at needs — needs should be a priority.”
At the end of discussion a potential resolution peeked through: council could dedicate the remainder of the street bond program to the Kilgore Road and Raccoon Road reconstruction projects and issue another bond referendum with a new street bond program. Leiper said council has plenty of options as far as street repair proposals; they can call a bond election at any time.
“The city could have a bond election any time council chooses to, the key is the ability to pay those bonds back,” Leiper said. “Generally in Baytown we do not have a bond election until we finish the (projects approved in the) prior election.”
Leiper said council also has to take into account that having another bond election could impact the city property tax rate because the general obligation bonds are borrowed against the ability of the city to issue property taxes.
The 2001 bond program was for $29 million — of which $20 million was for street reconstruction — and was expected to spur a 2.9 percent property tax increase in the city, but the rate has remained unchanged.
The tax rate didn’t go up from the 2001 bond election as expected because the city saw additional revenue from economic growth in previously undeveloped areas within the city (thus gaining more property to tax), low interest rates and a rise in appraisal value on existing property.
“The way (a bond referendum) generally works, council will appoint a bond steering committee and those people will become chairpersons of subcommittees that solicit information from city staff and residents on what needs to be done,” Leiper said. “Tax committee looks at the tax impact and the steering committee recommends how many bonds to sell at City Council.”
The street bond program was not an action item at council’s meeting Thursday. Further discussion is expected and city officials said it would most likely take place during an upcoming work session.
Baytown Sun Published March 26, 2006 Heated debate over the 2001 street bond program Thursday could end up with voters deciding on another street bond program a few years early if council dedicates Year 4 and 5 funding of the current program to reconstructing Kilgore Road.
District 4 Councilman Don Murray said he wasn’t sure if he was inserting his head into a “noose or a hug” by expressing the idea to take the remaining funding in the $20 million street bond program, which is estimated around $6 million, and dedicating that funding to reconstruct Kilgore Road. His intuition proved true on both counts as council opinion was split.
“It was a nice suggestion,” District 2 Councilman Scott Sheley said. “If we pull out all monies then the spending in all districts is not equal.
“We should be looking at the whole city instead of a single district.”
Council members agreed with Sheley wholeheartedly pointing out that his district has received more than twice the street bond funding, just more than $4 million, than any other district in Baytown.
“The arguments I am hearing tonight are contrary than those I heard during Year 2 of the street bond program,” Mayor Calvin Mundinger said.
During Year 2, only two streets were repaired: South Pruett for around $1.6 million and North Burnet for around $940,000. Pruett is in Sheley’s district and Burnet is in District 3, which Mundinger represented before he was elected mayor in 2004.
Deputy City Manager Bob Leiper estimated Year 4 funding would be around $1.9 million. The project for Kilgore Road is estimated to cost $1.5 million for the city’s half if they can work out an agreement with Harris County. If they can’t then the cost for Kilgore Road would double, and Leiper said he thinks the cost is going to be higher than the $1.5 million anyway — the cost estimate is more than a year old and the city wants to replace the asphalt road with concrete.
“I guarantee that road is going to cost more today,” Leiper said. “The reason we prefer concrete on open ditch streets is that the edges of asphalt streets tend to crack because the roadway is weaker on the edge; asphalt has no tensile strength.”
Work on the 20 approved streets for Year 3 of the program should begin this year. Kilgore Road, which city officials recognize needs work but hasn’t put on the list yet, is a county road that passes through Districts 5 and 6.
Council could start a joint reconstruction project with Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia because Kilgore is a county road. District 6 Councilman Sammy Mahan said he hoped the city and the county could get the project going.
“They are not asking for concrete or sidewalks, they just want a new asphalt street they can get up and down without tearing up their car,” Mahan said.
Mahan said during the meeting that Kilgore Road’s asphalt top has ruts in it like you would find on an unpaved road. District 1 Councilman Mercedes Renteria III interjected.
“You just gave a brief description of my whole district,” Renteria said.
Renteria said he was against pooling all the remaining funds for the Kilgore Road project unless council could come up with some other way to get street repairs in other parts of the city too. He said traffic on the road should also be taken into consideration when picking streets for the bond program.
“I was asking for a traffic count or reasons why we want to repair Kilgore Road specifically,” Renteria said. “Is there an emergency or are we catering to the rich.
“We all want to get our streets repaired, but because of a lack of funds we have to look at needs — needs should be a priority.”
At the end of discussion a potential resolution peeked through: council could dedicate the remainder of the street bond program to the Kilgore Road and Raccoon Road reconstruction projects and issue another bond referendum with a new street bond program. Leiper said council has plenty of options as far as street repair proposals; they can call a bond election at any time.
“The city could have a bond election any time council chooses to, the key is the ability to pay those bonds back,” Leiper said. “Generally in Baytown we do not have a bond election until we finish the (projects approved in the) prior election.”
Leiper said council also has to take into account that having another bond election could impact the city property tax rate because the general obligation bonds are borrowed against the ability of the city to issue property taxes.
The 2001 bond program was for $29 million — of which $20 million was for street reconstruction — and was expected to spur a 2.9 percent property tax increase in the city, but the rate has remained unchanged.
The tax rate didn’t go up from the 2001 bond election as expected because the city saw additional revenue from economic growth in previously undeveloped areas within the city (thus gaining more property to tax), low interest rates and a rise in appraisal value on existing property.
“The way (a bond referendum) generally works, council will appoint a bond steering committee and those people will become chairpersons of subcommittees that solicit information from city staff and residents on what needs to be done,” Leiper said. “Tax committee looks at the tax impact and the steering committee recommends how many bonds to sell at City Council.”
The street bond program was not an action item at council’s meeting Thursday. Further discussion is expected and city officials said it would most likely take place during an upcoming work session.