Lubbock city leaders exploring bond election in 2020

The Lubbock City Council is discussing large capital improvement projects, and to pay for them, there’s early talk of a potential bond election.

A new bond election was first discussed publicly by the city council several weeks ago during a long-term planning meeting, where council members went over the projects city staff deemed necessary and somewhat urgent — many of the projects were improvements to major thoroughfare streets, but also public safety and ’quality of life’ initiatives.

When funding was brought up, several elected officials discussed a possible bond election, potentially in November 2020.

Mayor Dan Pope said there’s still a lot to be considered, but a bond election is on the table.

“There’s some projects that face us that we can’t fund out of our operating budget,” Pope said. “We’re faced with a situation where we need to have a discussion about these.”

The last time the City of Lubbock had a bond election was a decade ago in 2009, when Lubbock citizens considered with four propositions. Voters in 2009 approved $43 million for various street projects and $7.5 million for three new fire stations, but rejected $1.2 million for water-based play equipment in four city parks and $9 million for soccer fields in Southwest Lubbock.

That’s not to say the city hasn’t issued bonds for large capital projects in the past decade. The bonds just weren’t voter approved. Recent examples are the roughly $46 million for Citizens Tower and $60 million for the public safety improvements project. And this fiscal year the city’s ’gateway’ streets fund will pay for $8.1 million worth of projects on Upland Avenue from 66th to 82nd Streets, and Indiana Avenue from 130th to 146th Streets.

The gateway fund, created in the early 2000′s by setting aside a portion of the franchise fees to develop streets, is mostly dedicated for the near future. That’s why when street projects were getting discussed, taxes were the funding source.

Any future bond election is likely to be organized similarly to the 2009 bond election, with streets projects, public safety projects and quality of life projects packaged separately for voters.

A long list of projects were discussed at the city council’s long-term planning meeting. As mentioned earlier, they were broken down into categories: streets, public safety and quality of life. Civic and convention center was another, smaller, category, and the city council just recently voted to have a complete study completed related to the expansion of the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.

Streets were the biggest chunk of capital needs, according to city staff. The Lubbock City Council was presented with nearly $90 million for street improvements, and the city says that’s just a portion of the overall needs. And the $90 million doesn’t include potential costs associated with red brick streets downtown, and developing unpaved streets.

Street location outlined as needing expansion and improvements are 114th Street between University and Frankford Avenues, 34th Street between Avenues Q and A, and Slide and Quaker, and Erskine Ave. between Milwaukee and Frankford Avenues.

Categorized under public safety, the city council discussed the need for a new fire station south of the future Loop 88, at an estimated cost of $7.7 million, and a new facility for the city’s Public Health Department, at an estimated cost of $5.3 million.

The need for a $1.1 million outdoor warning system was also expressed, and council members believe those funds can be found in the city’s annual operating budget.

And under quality of life, the need for a library in South Lubbock, splash pads, walking trails, dog parks and basic playground upgrades were discussed.

Pope said discussions about what projects are most urgent, and how to pay for them, will be a focus of the council in 2020. A bond election may be the most likely option.

“I think as a council, we’ll look at it, and I think you prioritize what’s most important,” said Pope. “I think it’s more than just streets. I think it’s public safety, parks is part of it ... we’ll see.”

The phrase used often in local government is “wants versus needs,” and that is what Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Griffith said the council needs to decide. He said the council was presented with a long list of projects, and he said the council needs to determine the immediate needs.

Once that happens, he said discussion will be about a potential bond election.

A factor in this discussion will have to be the impact on the city’s tax rate, said Griffith.

Lubbock County just this year had a $99.6 million bond for street projects approved by voters. In 2018, voters approved a $130 million bond for the Lubbock Independent School District. So while the City of Lubbock hasn’t had a bond election in a decade, it’s been a regular occurrence on the ballot of late.

During the city council’s long-term planning meeting a few weeks ago, city leaders discussed how important it is to get street projects done early, because the cost only goes up.

Mayor Pope said these decisions won’t be easy.

“We’ll begin working on these piece-by-piece in work sessions,” Pope continued. “My guess is maybe in six months or so we’ll have a good idea of what the real needs are, and I think that’s when you have a discussion about if a bond election is appropriate. And if so, when, and what exactly do you take to the voters.”