The Woodcreek City Council voted to proceed with a bond election on the November 8 ballot for a two-cent increase in property tax rate to repair the city’s roads.
“We have been looking at what to do about roads for a long time,” Woodcreek Mayor Jeff Rasco said. “We’ve had engineering studies and road panels that have all said we need to do something about the roads. We had a citizen survey… and the survey said fix the roads. It was the number one issue by far.”
The proposal would add two cents to the debt service property tax rate for the city. Property tax rates are a combination of a maintenance and operation rate, which is used to run the city’s affairs, and a debt service rate, which is specifically used to pay down debt. They are paid per $100 of taxable property value. The city is currently in the process of setting the tax rate for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 with a public hearing called for August 31 at 2 p.m. at City Hall. The proposed combined rate is 18.39 cents per $100 of taxable property value, which is lower than the 20.71 cents of the last year. The bond election will not impact the upcoming year’s tax rate. If it is approved, the bond would begin for the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
The current debt service tax rate is .0687 set to expire following fiscal year 2024/25, which was used to pay for the reconstruction of Brookhollow Drive. If the bond is approved, it will absorb the debt remaining on that tax note and increase the debt service tax rate to .0885. The bond would then extend that debt service for 20 years through Fiscal Year 2043/44. For the first two years of the bond, the two-cent increase would add about $50 on to the annual tax note for taxable value of a home valued at $250,000. It would also commit the city to that debt service for an additional 18 years with the bond raising property taxes $221.25 for a $250,000 of taxable value compared to if the tax notes were allowed to expire without the bond passing. Due to the increase of the tax base in Woodcreek, the total tax rate, with the proposed Maintenance and Operations tax rate of .1152, would be .1839, which is lower than the total rate of .2071 levied in Fiscal Year 2021-2022.
This would raise around $3.5 million total including the final notes left to pay off the original tax notes for Brookhollow.
The $3.5 million would be supplemented by around $425,000 from the American Rescue Plan approved as a COVID-19 stimulus package from the federal government, which can be used for infrastructure. In addition, the city has begun the process of applying for more federal grants that could be used in a similar manner.
“Brookhollow was done, and it is built to last,” Rasco said. “It will be around for a long time. Then last fall, we resurfaced Woodcreek Drive. We did an overlay of asphalt hot mix on Woodcreek Drive, so that is a solid surface. Most of the other roads are chip seal where they lay down tar and throw some gravel on it… For some of the roads that is fine. That is the least durable form of road, but on some of the low traffic areas, we will probably use that less expensive, yet still durable, fix on those roads. But I would think for some of the main roads like Champion Circle, Augusta Drive and Brookmeadow, they would probably get the same treatment as Woodcreek Drive.”
Rasco said that the specifics for what methods of repair each road will get is still being worked out by the Platinum Roads Panel, which meets next on August 25 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The panel will begin putting together a specific plan for the city council to consider on what road construction will occur if the bond is approved. He said that the city elected to make the term of the bond 20 years because that should more closely match the lifespan of the work being done.
This project would also include extensive drainage work that will go hand in hand with the road work being done.
“Woodcreek has drainage problems,” Rasco said. “We get a few inches of rain and there is water in garages and over the lower water crossing. When you have that kind of drainage problem with water sheeting over the roads, it tears the roads up, so we’ll be trying to take care of the drainage issues while we take care of the roads.”
The bond will be held during the general election on November 8. For more information about the bond, the entire special meeting can be viewed at www.woodcreektx. gov/meetings.
