Funding Arboretum improvements

An important decision on how to fund the proposed Arboretum improvements will be coming up before long. You may recall that plans have been developed to build a second event center so that two activities can go on simultaneously, and with much better facilities. I have seen the plans and have been somewhat involved in the process. I won’t go into the details here, but I can tell you that the design is fantastic, having been highly refined by expert architects and with much involvement of the Arboretum Board, the City Council and others. This project would likely result in at least a tripling of the Arboretum’s income and boost Woodway’s stature in Central Texas. The project will require about $2.5-3 million, about twice what the new City Hall cost (not counting parking and other improvements). But there is one major difference: the Arboretum improvements will be covered strictly by the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenues. The City currently has about $500,000 saved toward this, but will need to borrow about $2.5 million.

The question will be whether to have this borrowing authorized by the citizens of Woodway via a bond election, or instead simply have the City Council issue a Certificate of Obligation that requires no citizen approval.

I campaigned on, among other things, greater communication with Woodway residents and tentatively came down on the side of putting this to a bond election (see earlier post here). Former City Council members have expressed opinions both for and against having a bond election (see here). However, unlike most other major City projects, approval or disapproval of this project has no bearing on any other aspect of City services or operation. A negative vote would simply result in bankrolling the excess HOT revenue (i.e., that over and above Arboretum operation), since there is nothing else to spend it on, beyond the recently-discovered need to spend about 14% on tourism promotion.

There are some good reasons to NOT put this to a vote, as follows. Most importantly, the election process is subject to delay because of legal restrictions; for example, the next election could not legally be held until May (fully 8 months away). This delay would prevent the City from taking advantage of the current low interest rates. Also, this would place the bidding process in a less favorable timeframe, competing (for example) with school district projects, making low bids and timely starts less likely. Finally, as one former City Council member has pointed out, citizens generally vote against even very good ideas, perhaps thinking increased taxes or decreased services are at stake.

I’ve gone over the figures with City Manager Yost Zakhary and Finance Officer William Klump, and I think the plan is sound. Even current HOT revenues fully cover the costs involved, and these revenues will almost certainly increase (at least slowly) with the opening of the new Best Western hotel and with the much-increased tourism advertising the City will be doing. In my opinion, this project is something the City needs to do, and better sooner than later.

I’d like to hear what readers of this blog think about these two options, that is, either waiting for a bond election or proceeding without one. You can contact me (on this issue, Woodway residents only please) by email at chuckimgarner@gmail.com or through the “contact us” page on my website (www.woodway-chuck.org). I will share your opinions with my fellow Council members, and it will help inform the Council on this matter.