Roswell residents will decide Tuesday whether to approve a $14.7 million bond that would fund local transportation, recreation and public safety projects.
The issue is generating opposition from some residents who accuse city leaders of sleight-of-hand taxation.
But supporters say it will help pave streets and preserve important quality-of-life staples that residents have come to expect.
City leaders point out that, if passed, the bond will not increase the property tax rate because debt from previous bonds will be paid off as the new debt is assumed.
The following projects are listed in the bond proposal:
- $6 million for ramp improvements and landscaping at Holcomb Bridge Road and Ga. 400.
- $2.7 million for a multiuse path and bike lanes on Eves Road and a portion of the multuse trail on Holcomb Bridge Road.
- $2.5 million for upgrades to the Adult Recreation Center, including a wading pool.
- $2 million to install synthetic turf at Roswell Area Park, Waller Park Extension and East Roswell Park, a total of four fields.
- $1.5 million to rebuild Fire Station No. 4 in south Roswell.
Resident Jay Small favors the bond, and so do most of the people he talks with in his Barrington Farms Homeowners Association, he said.
“Do I agree with all of it? No. I think the turf fields is a complete waste of money,” he said. “But I agree that our transportation needs are great, and we’re not going to get help from (the state Department of Transportation).”
Small said Roswell residents must recognize how dry the till is for transportation at the local and state level, especially with the failure of the transportation sales tax referendum in July.
Other residents are not so sure.
Lee Fleck says the bond is not necessary because the city will have more money on hand as bonds from 2002 and 2008 are paid off in the next few years. Yet, the tax rate will remain the same, even as the city requires less money to service its debt, he said.
He also warns that the bond question is not specific, and the city is not obligated to spend the money on the projects listed in the proposal.
“This is a one-category bond question,” Fleck said. “The (City Council) can move funds around as they see fit.”
That issue arose in August, when the City Council voted to put the bond on the Nov. 6 ballot.
City Attorney David Davidson said the ballot question does not specify projects, only the broad categories relating to transportation, recreation and public safety.
Mayor Jere Wood proposed dividing the referendum into three questions so residents could see how much of their money was going to each category. No one on the council agreed.
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