Bloomington park commissioners give initial OK to issue $5.8M in bonds for transportation projects
At a special meeting on Wednesday, Bloomington’s board of park commissioners kicked off a process to issue $5.8 million worth of bonds to fund several projects.
Most of them are non-motorized transportation projects. The one clear exception is a $25,000 project to replace gasoline-powered with electric-powered equipment.
At Wednesday’s meeting, director of park operations Tim Street gave some examples of the type of hand-held equipment that could be replaced: weed eaters; mowers; backpack blowers; hedge trimmers; and chainsaws.
Street also said the department is looking to buy some battery-powered riding lawn mowers and to test them out by giving them heavy use.
The parks bonds are half of a general obligation bond package that Bloomington mayor John Hamilton unveiled two weeks ago, along with $17 million worth of projects that could be funded with a local income tax increase.
The resolution adopted by the park commissioners includes the projects in Exhibit A. About those projects, the resolution states: “The Board preliminarily finds that it is necessary for the public health and welfare and will be of public utility and benefit to proceed with the Projects.”
Final approval by the board of park commissioners is expected on April 26. That’s when Wednesday’s resolution says a public hearing will take place.
Between now and April 26, the parks bonds are supposed to be introduced at the city council’s April 6 meeting, discussed at the city council’s April 13 committee meeting and voted up or down on April 20.
Here are the verbatim descriptions of the projects attached to the resolution that was approved Wednesday on a 4–0 vote by park commissioners:
Parks Bond Project List (in priority order for city administration)
- Replace various gas-powered equipment with electrically-powered equipment
- Replace missing sidewalk on Rogers St. by Switchyard Park
- Addition of protected bicycle lanes along Covenanter Drive (from College Mall to Clarizz Blvd)
- Construction of North Dunn Street multiuse path (from the SR 45/46 Bypass to Old SR 37)
- Griffy Loop Trail dam crossing and community access\ improvements
- Implementation of West 2nd Street modernization, including new signalization and protected bicycle lanes (from Walker Street to BLine trail)
- Construction of a pathway to connect Lower Cascades Park to Miller Showers Park (Phase 6)
The Dunn Street project just covers design, not construction, but the city has hopes that a state grant might help fund the actual construction, according to planning services manager Beth Rosenbarger.
The $5.8 million for the parks bond total is at the limit for a “controlled project” under state law. In 2017 the threshold for controlled projects was raised from $2 million to $5 million plus a growth quotient each year. The amount above $5 million reflects the growth quotient.
They’re called “controlled projects” because any greater general obligation bond issuance would be under the control of potential remonstrators, who could push the issue to a referendum.
The projects in the current parks bond proposal are listed out with a minimum and maximum range. At $8.5 million, even the sum of the minimum ranges exceeds $5.8 million. That means the projects could be winnowed down by the city council and possibly reprioritized.
Controller Jeff Underwood told the park commissioners on Wednesday that he estimates the increased property tax rate to pay the debt service on the bonds at 3.3 cents. Bloomington’s current general fund property tax rate is about 61 cents.
For a property with an assessed value of $250,000, subtracting the $45,000 homestead deduction leaves $205,000. The supplemental deduction of 35-percent on that remainder leaves $133,250 as the net assessed value.
So an extra 3.3 cents of tax on that net assessed value ($133,250*.00033) would work out to $43.97 more in property taxes per year.
A frequent point that has been made by Bloomington resident Greg Alexander during public commentary at various meetings concerns the management of multi-modal path projects—like those that are included in the current parks bond proposal. Alexander contends that such path projects should be led by transportation and engineering staff, not parks staff.
Why are such projects funded through bonds issued by the board of park commissioners?
At least part of the reason is related to statutory debt limits.
Controller Jeff Underwood told park commissioners on Wednesday that the city generally has a debt limit equal to 2 percent of the adjusted value of taxable property in the city. [IC 36-1-15-6]
But the park bonds don’t count toward that limit. [IC 36-10-4-35]
If it’s possible to analyze the project as related to parks and recreation, then it might be viewed as the city’s strategic financial advantage to issue bonds through the parks board, because that leaves the debt capacity available for other types of projects.
The same information is included in The B Square’s [Shared Google Sheet] Numbers in parens reflect the Hamilton administration’s priority ranking.
| Bond Type | Item | Min Estimate | Max Estimate |
| Parks GO Bond | (7) Cascades Phase 6 -path/connection to Miller Showers Park | $3,200,000 | $3,200,000 |
| (3) Covenanter Drive Protected Bicycle Lanes (College Mall to Clarizz Blvd) | $2,400,000 | $2,880,000 | |
| (6) W. 2nd Street Modernization, Protected Bike Lanes (Walker St to B-Line) | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | |
| (4) N Dunn St Multiuse Path (45/46 Bypass to Old SR 37) | $800,000 | $960,000 | |
| (5) Griffy Loop Trail dam crossing and community access | $375,000 | $375,000 | |
| (2) Replace missing sidewalk on Rogers St. by Switchyard Park | $200,000 | $200,000 | |
| (1) Replace gas powered equipment with electric equipment | $25,000 | $25,000 | |
| Parks GO Bond Total | $8,500,000 | $9,140,000 | |
| Public Works GO Bond | High Street Multiuse Path, Intersection Modernize (Arden Dr to 3rd St) | $2,500,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Energy efficiency retrofits for all City buildings | $1,000,000 | $3,000,000 | |
| City fleet vehicle hybrid/ electrification fund | $1,200,000 | $2,200,000 | |
| Citywide LED conversion of street lights | $1,500,000 | $2,000,000 | |
| Sidewalk projects (TBD) | $300,000 | $1,000,000 | |
| Downtown ADA Curb Ramps (e.g., W Kirkwood and Indiana Ave) | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | |
| Create green waste yard at Lower Cascades Park | $400,000 | $500,000 | |
| Citywide traffic signal retiming | $42,500 | $425,000 | |
| GPS for city fleet | $250,000 | $250,000 | |
|
Public Works GO Bond Total
|
$7,692,500 | $15,375,000 | |
| TOTAL | $16,192,500 | $24,515,000 | |
