APEX, N.C. -- Voters in Apex will have a historic decision to make come November.
The $48 million bond question approved by the town council last week will be the most debt the town has asked voters to authorize at once, according to Apex Finance Director Vance Holloman.
That would probably mean a five-cent hike in the property tax rate introduced in 1.5-cent increments, from 38 to 43 cents, between 2019 and 2022.
Apex's council approved the bond question -- and the town's application with the state Local Government Commission to ask it -- in a 4-1 vote last week. The town wants to use the bulk of the money, about $37 million, to turn property it purchased in 2014 into a regionally unique venue known as Pleasant Park off Old U.S. 1.
The rest would go toward an $8.5 million senior center in the town's Hunter Street town government complex and two new sections of greenway totaling $3.4 million.
The $48 million figure is down from initial estimates in excess of $50 million. The town will issue the bonds in phases, Holloman said, likely leaving 2012's $35 million wastewater bond as the largest-ever single bond issuance.
Councilman Gene Schulze cast the lone vote against the bond referendum. He said he saw a need for more parks funding in Apex but that he didn't think it was as pressing a priority as other challenges facing the town, such as paying public safety employees or building a new fire station.
"It's a massive bond," Schulze said at the June 20 meeting. "I think we'll regret it."
Councilman Bill Jensen pointed out that the referendum would be the first step of many toward taking on the debt, noting that the bond question asks for permission to sell bonds, not a mandate to do so.
"We don't have to purchase these bonds if we don't want to, and this comes back to us at the council at each stage," Jensen said. "I have no problem asking people if they want to commit to this or not. I think that's democracy."
But Schulze said he found it hard to believe the town wouldn't use the bonds if voters approved their use.
"Every year we fight to find ways to provide the basics, and we can't even find money to do that," Schulze said. "I can't see where money comes from down the road for us to not borrow for this."
Siding with the majority, Councilwoman Denise Wilkie echoed a declaration from earlier in the meeting that named July Parks and Recreation Month in Apex.
"There are so many things that make parks so valuable to a town -- groundwater protection, crime reduction, increased property values, quality of life," she said. "Those are what made Apex number one, and it's what makes people want to live here."
Apex last issued bonds for parks funding in 2013 in the amount of $6 million. In 2015, Apex voters approved $15 million in bonds for road projects, including the completion of the Apex Peakway.
