EDIE ZUVANICH Special to the Press
The Taylor City Council made no changes to a group of 20 proposed projects presented by engineering firm HDR. The debt-funded capital improvement projects are part of a $20 million package approved in the fiscal year 2024 budget.
“These are the projects based on the master plans that we’ve come up with that fit within the $20 million we were looking to issue,” Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Wood told council at a special-called Jan. 10 workshop. “That’s the purpose of an interactive conversation, so at the end of the night, hopefully, we can identify the projects we can move forward with.”
The proposal included two facilities projects, three street maintenance projects, two walkway and streetscape improvements, four drainage improvements and nine parks projects. With contingency costs, the package totals $20,485,000, which the city will fund through certificates of obligation to be issued at the end of first quarter.
City staff projects the new debt will increase the city’s Interest and Sinking tax rate by $0.0484 for next year. That rate is supposed to decrease annually after 2025 based on a hoped-for 7% per year increase in property values through 2033. The ability for the rate to decrease does not take into account additional debt being incurred.
“This is the first of a series of debt. We will issue debt again next year,” Wood said. “We have $3 million committed for next year for the A2 corridor match that is a county project that they’re going to bond out. We also have a $2 million commitment on a ladder truck for the fire department that was approved back in November that we’ll have to issue debt for next year.”
While Council made no changes to the list of projects presented by HDR, not every project was equally well-received.
The plan to add bicycle lanes to TH Johnson Drive and Lake Drive met with suggestions for the engineers to consider ways to alleviate confusion and prevent loss of on-street parking for residents.
Upgrades to Murphy Street, an abandoned road with no houses on it, had residents and one council member questioning the $1 million investment in light of so many other streets in need.
A $4.5 million plan to add sidewalks to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, had many residents shaking their heads at what seemed to be an extremely high price for the work.
The sidewalk project was originally a $7 million undertaking the city hoped to pay for with a grant from Texas Department of Transportation. When the grant was not approved, the project was scaled back in scope and cost.
“As somebody that actually lives in the district and has walked down MLK...MLK is dangerous for people to be walking down,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Gerald Anderson. “We’ve just been lucky we haven’t had an accident... because the only place to walk is in the street. It’s money well spent for the safety and priority of the citizens who live in that district.”
The project will connect south Taylor with north Taylor via Robinson Street, connecting Main Street to the MLK corridor and increasing walkability throughout the south side. HDR’s Jacob Walker explained how the relatively short sidewalk came with such a high estimated cost.
“We’re having to cross two railroad tracks, and these railroad track crossings are extremely expensive. There’s about a million dollars of estimated costs to get through the planking replacements, the drainage improvements they’re going to make us do, perhaps any safety arms, that’s yet to be determined,” he said.
Walker also told council a pedestrian crossing, similar to the one by City Hall, would be needed as the sidewalk crosses east of Davis Grocery over to Fannie Robinson Park, which will cost several hundred thousand dollars.
Other highlights of the total project included a wide variety of park improvements, from reconstructing the Heritage Park splashpad to replacing the dangerously decrepit pavilion in Bull Branch Park, paving dirt parking lots and installing synthetic turf in two ball fields.
With the first round of debt-funded capital improvement projects agreed upon, the next step is for city council to adopt a resolution directing staff to publish notice of the city’s intention to issue Certificates of Obligation. The vote is scheduled for the Jan. 25 meeting.
