From Conroe Courier
To the editor:
I was initially in favor of the $350 million road bond, scheduled for May 9, until I started getting more information. Our county is in desperate need for more road improvements because some areas have either been neglected for a long time, or they have had a huge influx of residents — or both!
Quite frankly, I’m pretty shocked about this bond now. The more I find out, the more concerned I get. We desperately need roadwork in Montgomery County, far beyond what this bond proposes. Where have our annual county taxes gone?
My Top Concerns About the Bond:
1. Why don’t we have a long-term, countywide plan, after having already spent some $500,000 on “studies?” Too many high priority projects are unfunded by this bond. (According to James Noack’s report, there are over $82 million in unfunded needs in south Montgomery Co. alone.)
2. The bond includes over $79 million for road maintenance and ditches, many which I think shouldn’t be included in this bond. We pay annual taxes which should be covering a lot of these projects. Most of this $79 million is for rehabbing roads with 3-inch asphalt topping that only lasts seven to 10 years. Should we really be borrowing this much money to pay principal and interest up to 20-30 years for roads that are not expected to hold up more than 10 years?
3. The proposed Woodlands Parkway extension winds through undeveloped properties and is estimated to run $22 million. There isn’t a pressing need for the county to alleviate traffic problems there yet until the neighborhoods are built. Developers should be constructing the roads, just as they did TW Parkway and other master developments over the years. After that, the county takes over to provide improvements & regular maintenance. Research Forest Drive and Fish Creek Thoroughfare also fall into this category.
4. Mike Meadors’ Precinct 1 has $11.5 million “To be determined.” There are no projects listed for that. He’ll decide after the bond passes?
5. The commissioners should be applying for more TxDOT and H-GAC grants for state & federal money to help fund some of the roads. This would bring some of our state & federal tax $$ back home.
6. We’ve been told over and again that our “taxes won’t increase.” Well, our tax rate may not go up, but if our values rise, our taxes will increase. The county is presently paying interest on nearly $421 million in current county debt (per the official budget). If this road bond passes, the county will be $771 million in debt for roads alone. (Keep in mind that not all the new people moving in will be living in Carlton Woods, paying high taxes. Some will be living in Section 8 housing which is scheduled to go in too.) We just received the estimated tax value of our home which increases every year. Multiply that “value” by the tax rate to get the annual total. Somehow we keep writing a larger check each year, in spite of promises. People are being taxed out of their homes and this has to stop! Please – don’t try to tell me that our taxes won’t increase.
7. We’ve been told that the bond cannot be revised and put on the November ballot. They say we can’t wait another six months to get this started. Why not? They say it will take another 5-10 years if we don’t pass this now. Folks, we can pressure the commissioners to do this! We elected them! We need to drop the waste and fund more urgent projects. If we’re going to borrow $350 million, shouldn’t we get this right? (Could it be because we’re going to have a Conroe ISD school bond to vote on in November too? And we just passed a huge community college bond last year as well.)
I believe that we citizens need to demand that commissioners revise this bond proposal and put it on the November ballot. If we don’t get this right, the commissioners will be coming back to the voters in another few years asking for yet another urgent bond. I say, VOTE NO on May 9. Then they will be under pressure to drop some pork and a number of lower priority projects in order to fund more of the high density roads. And then we can hopefully vote yes in November in good conscience.
For more detail on these issues, you can go to www.USVoteSMart.com.
Betty Anderson
Republican Party Chairman, Pct 31
President, Montgomery Co. Eagle Forum
