The first of five planned virtual open houses designed to convince residents to vote in favor of the city borrowing $37 million to fund the construction of a new police headquarters is scheduled for 7 p.m. this evening and will continue for the next four consecutive Thursdays at the same time.
Because of the economic distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the proposal to sell the required city-backed bonds arguably faces more of an uphill battle than the 2013 bond election. The proceeds from the sale of those bonds financed major road reconstructions in Kyle, two of which — Burleson and Lehman — are still in the final phases of completion.
Voters are being told that if they approve the sale these bonds, it could mean, on the average, a $160.53 per year increase in property taxes over the next 20 years. The city likes to claim out of the goodness of its heart it is deferring collecting this tax increase until October 2021 because of COVID-19, but, that’s mostly a lot of malarkey. The truth is the bonds can’t be sold, obviously, until voters approve the sale, and the first time a city budget can reflect any income the sale of those bonds generate is in the FY 2021-22 budget, which doesn’t kick in until October 2021. But saying the city is considering the plight of the poor taxpayer because of COVID-19 is a good PR stunt, especially if the economic effects of COVID-19 might be the reason some voters are considering voting against the bond sale.
The open houses will take the form of a “Zoom Webinar.” I am not that proficient in anything that could be described as “high-tech,” but even I, with my limited technical capabilities, managed to participate recently in a Zoom Webinar from my home. The trick is to Google “Zoom” and then go from there. You’ll need a Webinar ID and, for tonight’s meeting, that ID is 976 8015 2699. You’ll also need a passcode and that passcode will be the same for all five meetings: 2020.
The IDs for the remaining meetings are 926 2839 7701 (Sept. 24), 943 8608 5201 (Oct. 1), 993 3800 6811 (Oct. 8) and 922 4148 4630 (Oct. 15).
The open houses will feature a presentation followed by an opportunity for attendees to ask questions. The city says the presentation section of the open houses will be identical for all five meetings. Spanish interpretation will be available for tonight’s and next week’s open houses.
The $37 million Public Safety Building proposal is one of two bond propositions on the Nov. 3 ballot. The other is a $10 million proposed bond sale that would increase property taxes, again on average, another $43.47 per year, to pay for a new sports complex and upgrades to the city’s park infrastructure. The city, however, is not pushing that bond sale as much as the one for the new police headquarters.
The city is walking a fine line here. Legally, it is prohibited from spending tax money to campaign in favor of a bond election. That is why it is calling these productions an “education” effort.
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