“Too Big, too Expensive” – said survey for aborted 2012 Phase I bond
The 2012 bond survey showed only 60% would vote yes to tax themselves at $23 per $100,000 of assessed value. Can Los Altos Measure A do better at the polls with its $20 per $100.000?
The 2012 Godbe survey did ask voters about the amount of tax per $100,000 assessed value they were willing to pay. Even at $23 per $100K, only about 60% of likely voters said they would vote yes, while 67% of yes votes are required for a bond to pass. [The 2012 bond was expected to cost $33 per $100k of assessed value, so you can see why it was cancelled.] The current City Council is wise to structure Measure A at a LOWEST POSSIBLE price point of just under $20 per 100K.
But tax per $100K assessed value it not the only price voters look at. Some voters look at the FULL STICKER PRICE of Measure A – which is still the SAME $65 MILLION PRICE as the now-cancelled 2012 bond. The 2012 Phase I project would have included the same 55,000 square foot community center and a new police station. The city would have spent $16-20M of reserves on a new city hall for a total cost of around $85 million. There was no underground parking.
Now this 2015 Measure A project also costs $65M. It includes the same 55,000 community center and a pool and sports fields. In the 2012 plan the pools and sports field were planned for a separate later Phase II, and that council said at that time that all these facilities were going to need to be privately funded by Splash, the soccer leagues, and the baseball leagues. Now with Measure A, the taxpayers, not private parties, will fund those recreation improvements. Today in the the Measure A project, the city is going to spend $20 – 25M of reserves on underground parking for a total project cost of around $85 million.
If $85 million was “too expensive” in 2012, is $85 somehow more affordable today? In 2015 as in 2012, the city is planing to spend $20M out of reserves.
