Lewisville City Council has called a Nov. 2, 2021, election for voters to consider a proposed $95 million bond package to build a planned public safety complex, according to a news release from the city. Early voting will start on Oct. 18.
The package will be presented to voters as a single ballot proposition with voters choosing to vote for or against “the issuance of $95,000,000 general obligation bonds for public safety facilities, including fire facilities, emergency services facilities and police facilities.”
If approved by voters, the new complex will replace the current Police Department building and Fire Station #1 (which includes Fire Department administration) near the northwest corner of Main Street and Valley Parkway. It would encompass 116,000 square feet of space in a two- and three-story building that would meet all future projected space needs for police administration, fire administration, and Fire Station #1.
Combining public safety administration in a single complex could allow police, fire, and emergency management to share training and administrative space. Current plans for the new facilities would potentially include a hardened emergency operations center able to withstand tornado-force winds. It also is planned to include backup generator power sufficient to prevent prolonged power losses such as happened during the extended freeze in February 2021. Fire Station #1 is planned to be expanded from three apparatus bays to five to accommodate equipment and staff in support of future growth. A proposed two-story parking garage would provide secured parking and building access for police and fire employees, and is also planned to provide protected parking for special-unit vehicles that often are parked unsecured currently.
The total projected cost for the complex is currently estimated at $96.7 million. The bond election is for $95 million in general obligation bonds with the balance of funding currently planned to come from bond proceeds approved by voters in 2015 that are restricted for public safety purposes.
The City currently plans to begin building design immediately after the election if voters approve the measure, with construction likely starting in December 2022.
City officials have determined that, as currently planned, no property tax rate increase would be needed to fund the bond package. This can be done because of existing capacity under the portion of the existing property tax rate that is dedicated to debt payments, which is a product of the City‘s long-standing practice of retiring debt after 16 years and refunding debt when lower interest rates are available.
The City also has access to extremely low interest rates on municipal bonds in current markets due to the City’s AAA bond rating. Debt capacity also is supported by projected future growth in the tax base.
The most recent Lewisville bond election was held in November 2015, when voters approved $135 million for streets, construction of Fire Station #3, parks and trails, and construction of Thrive multigenerational recreation center. City officials said at the time that the city’s property tax rate for debt would not increase more than 1.8 cents due to the 2015 bond election. The actual increase was only 0.5 cents. In addition, the increase in the debt tax rate was fully offset by a decrease in the maintenance and operations (M&O) portion of the rate so the net impact to the city’s property tax rate was zero. Lewisville maintains one of the lowest property tax rates in North Texas.
The remaining bonds authorized in the 20