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Sunday, October 15, 2000
City faces a bumpy vote ride
Trust is an issue on street bond
By Jason Ma
Caller-Times
When it comes to the rutted and bumpy roads in Corpus Christi, both advocates and critics of the city's Nov. 7 bond proposals agree.
The streets need fixing.
Installing 10 new traffic lights, as well as widening and smoothing the way on more than 18 roadways with the $20.7 million in bonds will make Corpus Christi a safer place to drive, said Angel Escobar, director of engineering for the city.
"They're all crucial," Escobar said. "You have traffic deaths that have occurred in the past simply because we don't have the funds to put in the traffic lights."
The impact of this bond package would be a 2.7-cent increase on property taxes. The impact on the owner of a $67,278 home would be $18.17 annually.
But both city officials and critics also agree that past troubles with the city's 1986 bond program - the last city bond package approved by voters - appear to offer the biggest roadblock for passage of the November bonds.
"I just spent $350 on repairs on the front end of my car that I wouldn't have spent if the streets were better," said Glynn Pugh, a semi-retired accountant and attorney.
Despite the damage to his car, Pugh said he will not vote for the street improvement bond proposal because of the way the city handled the 1986 bond package.
Pugh said he's upset because, in 1986, voters approved issuing $105 million in debt for scores of projects, including streets. Several of those projects are still not completed.
"It's an issue of trust," Pugh said. "They misused our money."
Pugh said he will vote against the city's proposed bond package for streets. Instead, he wishes that the city would fund the street projects out of the city's general fund.
But City Manager David Garcia has said the city's property tax cap prevents the city from raising sufficient revenue to pay for street repairs through the general fund budget. The tax cap is 68 cents per $100 valuation. Property taxes are currently 62 cents.
Oil bust a factor
Garcia attributes the problems with the 1986 bond package to the city's inability to issue the voter approved debt without additional taxes when the oil bust hit South Texas, shrinking the city's tax base.
The debt for that bond package was to be financed through projected growth, not a tax increase, Garcia said. When that projected growth didn't occur, the city delayed issuing the debt.
The delay in completing the 1986 bond package prevented the city from seeking approval for subsequent bonds for street repair, Garcia has said.
But voters shouldn't get stuck on past bond packages, said Alan McClain, an investment manager who said he will vote for the street proposal. Instead, voters should give city officials a chance to succeed with the current proposals.
"Fourteen years ago is a long time," he said. "We have to start doing the right thing somewhere. I'm willing to give them a chance."
Delay could be costly
And further delay in repairing streets means that it would be more difficult and expensive to repair them in the future.
To regain some confidence with taxpayers, the city is asking voters to pass street projects that can be substantially completed in three years to prove that the city can deliver on its promises.
On Nov. 7, voters will decide on a new set of street improvement bonds, which include:
$8.49 million for street improvements
$4.03 million for street resurfacing
$3.80 million for neighborhood street reconstruction
$2.13 million for 10 new and 10 upgraded traffic signals, plus synchronization
$1.93 million for Texas Department of Transportation projects
$400,000 for improved sidewalk accessibility for the disabled
Safety measure
Intersections that would receive new traffic signals include: Staples Street at Lipes Boulevard and at Timbergate Road; Saratoga Boulevard at Rodd Field Road; and Kostoryz Road at Sunnybrook Road. Flashing signals would be installed at: Carancahua Street at Coopers Alley; Ocean Drive at Cole Park; and Everhart Road at Schanen Boulevard.
Installing new traffic signals at these intersections would mean that cars turning onto big streets from smaller side streets would not have to risk getting in front of oncoming cars, said Kevin Stowers, acting assistant director of engineering.
Help for disabled
Streets to be resurfaced Cost
Up River Road, from Interstate 37 to Leopard Street $447,750
Alameda Street, from Parade Drive to Ennis Joslin Road $854,250
Ayers Street, from South Padre Island Drive to Port Avenue $503,900
Gollihar Road, from Crosstown Expressway to Kostoryz $986,000
South Staples Street, from Gollihar Road to Williams Drive $1,237,100
Total cost of street resurfacing 4,029,000
Street improvements
City share of street construction in new subdivisions $600,000
New street lights $800,000
Guardrails, pedestrian bridges and school zone sidewalks $450,000
Intersection approach improvements $500,000
Streets to be widened
McArdle Road, from Everhart Road to Holmes Drive $2,243,000
Horne Road, from Ayers Street to Kostoryz Road $1,635,000
Cliff Maus Road, from South Padre Island Drive to Bear Lane $500,000
Yorktown Boulevard, from Lake Travis Drive to Weber Road $1,764,000
Total cost of street improvements $8,492,000
Neighborhood streets to be reconstructed, adding curbs and gutters
Lyons Street $472,350
Birmingham Street $285,850
Annaville Road, Catcay and Azores drives $820,800
Jamaica and Brookdale drives $965,000
Woodlawn Drive, Laguna Shores and Whiting Drive $1,256,000
Total cost of street reconstruction $3,800,000
City's share of State Highway Department road projects
FM 624, from US 77 to FM 1889 $360,000
McKinzie Road, from Haven Drive to south city limits $1,065,000
Future TxDOT projects $500,000
Total $1,925,000
Priority traffic signal improvements
Staples Street at Lipes Boulevard
Staples Street and Timbergate Road
Saratoga Boulevard at Rodd Field Road
Kostoryz Road at Sunnybrook Road
Three other intersections would be selected at a later date from a list of 14 locations
Flashing signals would be installed at:
Carancahua Street at Coopers Alley
Ocean Drive at Cole Park
Everhart Road at Schanen Boulevard. $1,000,000
Ten other intersections would be upgraded $1,000,000
System synchronization improvements $130,000
Total cost of general street improvement bond proposal $20,776,000
Here's the list of 14 other locations
Everhart Road at Congressional Drive
Saratoga Boulevard at Long Meadow Drive
Shoreline Boulevard at Twigg Street
Park Road 22 at Aquarius Street
Staples Street at Spohn Drive
FM 624 at CR 69
Weber Road at Acushnet Drive
Weber Road at Aaron Drive
Santa Fe Street at Del Mar Boulevard
Cimarron Boulevard at Bison Drive
Old Brownsville Road at Cliff Maus Drive
Magee Beach Area at Shoreline Boulevard
Everhart Road at Yorktown Boulevard
McArdle Road at Nile Drive
For its $400,000 investment in sidewalk accessibility for the disabled, the city will receive an additional $1.6 million in matching federal funds. The money for the TxDOT projects is to cover the city's obligation for right-of-way costs and utility adjustments, said Becky Kureska, TxDOT spokeswoman.
"If the city can't contribute its share, the projects would be delayed," Kureska said. "Where (the city's) money comes from, we don't care, but they have to fund their share of the costs."
The money would pay for ramps for wheelchair users, audible signals at intersections to help the visually impaired cross the street and larger buttons for pedestrians to push to get a "walk" signal, Stowers said.
The neighborhood street reconstruction project would pave 10 roads that residents have petitioned the city for, Escobar said.
"Right now, they have ditches, they don't have sidewalks," Escobar said. "All they have is maybe base material or even a county-type road."
One of those neighborhoods, on Annaville Road, has been on the city's to-do list since filing its petition in May 1987.
"They've been waiting a long time," Escobar said.
Clifford Reusser, who lives on Annaville Road, said it's about time the city got around to doing the work.
"This is the only street that isn't curbed, guttered and paved out here," Reusser said. "All the rest of them around here are. It's been that way for years."
Driver inconveniences
The roadwork represents potential inconveniences for motorists, while proposed signal light changes represent conveniences for them, city officials said.
"It's our intent to maintain access to all places at all times," Stowers said.
While the work is being done, Stowers said some people may have to park and walk a block to get to their house during the work day. But access will resume in the evening.
Streets that require resurfacing can be completed in two to four months. Streets that require rebuilding, the repacking of material supporting the asphalt, requires four to six months, he said.
New traffic signals also will be installed at three intersections to be chosen from 14 corners identified as problematic by the city. Expected to be completed a year to a year and a half after the bond's passage, those projects would improve the flow of traffic.
Cameras linked to a central office would be used to identify disruptions on streets. Signal lights would then be commanded from the office to smooth out the flow of cars.
"We're actually controlling signals to adjust them to different conditions," Stowers said.
A grudging 'yes'
Some who are opposed to higher taxes say they are willing to pay up for the sake of better streets, but only because the city's past inability to get the job done has forced their hand.
"It bothers me that they have to raise taxes," said John Dunn. "But for things like streets, I guess I have to pay. If the City Council had been more responsible, they would have been fixed earlier.
"I hate that we have to use bonds," Dunn said. "But on the other hand, I don't know what else we'd do if we didn't get them. Most (streets) either have holes or bumps in them."
Tax increases associated with these latest bond proposals would not count toward the cap, because they would be voter approved.
Other uses of bond money
Several of the 1986 bond projects, including work on Leopard Street, McArdle and Airline Roads, are just now being done. And in 1995, the council, which at the time included Council Members Melody Cooper, John Longoria and Betty Jean Longoria, voted to raise taxes and declare the 1986 bond package complete without ever finishing the roadwork that voters approved.
Voters approved the city to issue $105 million in bonds 14 years ago to fund projects ranging from wastewater improvements to park development. All of the projects were expected to be completed in five years without an increase of the property tax rate.
Since then, the city has used the debt approved for specific road projects for other work, and the council has voted to increase the property tax rate 1.1 cents in 1995 to complete the work.
A reconciliation of the 1986 bond package done by city staff in 1999 shows that the city, by delaying projects approved by voters, used the bond sale proceeds to complete millions of dollars worth of projects not included in the bond package sold to voters.
Details of reconciliation
The reconciliation details how more than $3 million approved by voters for street projects in 1986 was diverted to projects not approved by voters.
The diversions include $37,000 for the design of the Gateway Project, $45,000 to modify an Interstate 37 ramp to accommodate an outlet mall that was never built, along with other projects.
But the reconciliation also shows that despite the belated street projects, city officials managed to use state money to stretch the $46 million authorized by voters for street projects to pay for more than $200 million worth of work.
Staff writer Chris Neely contributed to this report. Jason Ma can be reached at 886-3778, or by e-mail at maj@caller.com
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