A year from now, Arlington, Texas, city officials may very well be asking voters to approve a bond package, perhaps to keep fixing the potholes on your street.
In a briefing Tuesday, City Council members expressed interest in pursuing a bond election for November 2018.
It's too early to say what would be included but Mayor Jeff Williams said “we need to maintain the great momentum in street construction and repair” the city has had in recent years.
The agenda item also suggests it could be used for parks and other projects.
The first step would be for the City Council to appoint a 19-member Citizens Bond Committee by February 2018. The committee would meet weekly from March through May.
At those meetings, the bond committee would take up specific issues from all city departments at those meetings.
Under the current timeline, the committee's recommendations would be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council in May 2018 with the council calling for an election in August 2018.
The election would be in November 2018.
With the last election approved by voters in 2014, most of the money from that $236 million bond package will have been designed and under construction by fiscal year 2019-20.
Deputy City Manager Jim Parajon said the city essentially spends 20 percent of the bond money each year.
Among the projects included in the 2014 bond package are $3 million for the reconstruction of Ditto Golf Course and $9.7 million for rebuilding Fire Station No. 1 and making improvements to the fire training center. The Rush Creek Dog Park, which totaled $500,000 from the 2008 bond package, has proved to be one of the city’s most popular new attractions.
