Council Calls Bond Election For Library, Public Safety

The San Marcos City Council, acting on the recommendations from the Community Improvement Program Task Force, called a bond election for May 6 for public safety and library improvements during a special meeting Wednesday.

The first reading of the bond election ordinance was approved during the Feb. 7 City Council meeting. The second and final reading was unanimously passed Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The San Marcos City Council created the Community Improvements Program Task Force in October 2016. The Task Force was made up of 30 members, four of which were non-voting, ex-officio members.

The first meeting was held on Oct. 20, 2016, and the last meeting was held on January 5, 2017.  In that time period, the committee held seven official meetings along with two nights of facility tours for a total of approximately 20 hours’ worth of education.

The Task Force recommended two bond initiatives which would increase the tax rate by a projected total of 8.37 cents per $100 of valuation (based on current estimates and valuations), or $125.55  per year for a $150,000 home (the approximate average home value in San Marcos) if both initiatives were to pass.  The initiatives are broken down as follows:

Public Safety: Projected tax rate increase of 5.3 cents per $100 of valuation

Police Department renovations (Capital costs $5.5 million): These renovations will make improvements to the existing 911 center, add security and perimeter fencing, make parking lot improvements, replace existing HVAC equipment, and create new offices and functional improvements to the police station.

Holland Fire Station #2 relocation (Capital costs $5.2 million): This project will relocate Fire Station #2 to a new site recommended by the Task Force and replaces the 63-year-old structure that the station has occupied since its opening in 1954.

Highpointe Fire Station #8 construction (Capital costs $4.5 million, ongoing operating costs $1.4 million): This contractually obligated fire station is being funded in part by the developer of the Highpointe community and will be located on the east side of IH-35, a section of the city that has not had dedicated fire resources for a number of years.

The project includes the purchase of a fire truck for the station and includes $1.4 million for personnel and station operating costs.

Fire Training Field (Capital costs $2 million, ongoing operating costs $50,000): This facility will allow San Marcos Firefighters to conduct training including but not limited to residential and high rise live fire training, rope and trench rescue, confined space rescue, vehicle extrication, and fire, police, and EMS integrated response training.

This type of training is not currently conducted since the nearest facility is in Buda and would take firefighters out of the City’s area and unable to respond if needed.

San Marcos Library Expansion: Projected tax rate increase of 3.07 cents per $100 of valuation

The Library Expansion (Capital cost $14.5 million, ongoing operating costs $500,000) This project would expand the existing library by approximately 29,000 square feet and renovate the existing facility, which was built in 1994 and served 373,334 people in the 2016 fiscal year.

Other Projects

The Task Force also recommended a Public Services Maintenance facility along with a new City Hall to be constructed, paid for by issuing certificates of obligation and are not part of the bond election.

These facilities are 35 to 40 years old and were built when the City’s population was just aver 23,000, compared to the current population of 60,684 according to the latest Census data.