Glendale adding 2 bonds for construction, public safety to November ballot

GLENDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — This November, Glendale residents will be able to vote on two bond measures during this year’s election. One bond would fund major street and intersection projects, while the other would fund public safety enhancements and improvements.

If voters vote yes, the bond for road construction would be marked at $82 million, and the bond toward public safety would be $78 million. The road projects would completely break streets down to the dirt and completely resurface them. From modernizing current facilities to updating police and fire training academies, the City of Glendale has had many projects in the pipeline, including building Glendale’s Police Department its own forensic unit.

Assistant City Manager, Vicki Rios, said the city would’ve started these projects by now, but they need the new source of funding to hit the ground running.

“The city has traditionally used bonds for that type of construction, but we’re out of bond authority,” Rios said, “It allows us to pay for something now over a longer period of time, so we get the benefit of building the roads now so people can use the roads now — they don’t have to wait until we save up enough money to make that improvement or to reconstruct those assets.”

If these bonds were approved by voters, they would be funded through secondary property taxes. AZ Family asked Rios how this would affect Glendale residents’ tax rates, and she said it won’t because it would basically continue the current one.

“Because we’re paying off old bonds, we’re required to say that this would result in a property tax increase,” Rios said. “We have a policy — that we will not issue any new debt if it’s going to cause a property tax increase. So I think it’s important for voters to understand.”

In other words, the city would pay off the old bond and then start work on the new one, resulting in a net zero increase in taxes.

Glendale residents will be able to vote yes or no on these bonds on November 7th, and this will be an all-mail election. Folks should receive the ballot by October 11th.

If you are not registered to vote, the deadline is October 10th.

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