Bond issue raises $9M for shelter, center
County roads and bridges, communications upgrades also included in funding.
Last week, $9.3 million began pouring into Bastrop County coffers after the Commissioners Court approved a bond agreement last month that will finance the construction of a community center and emergency shelter near Mayfest Park.
The bond was issued as a certificate of obligation and will be paid back over 20 years, beginning in 2020, with an interest rate of 5 percent over the first eight years before dropping to about 3 percent for the remaining years.
The bond was issued through Robert W. Baird & Co., said Bastrop County Auditor Lisa Smith.
The money will pay for the construction of the building, technology and communication upgrades, construction and improvements of county roads and bridges, and purchasing road maintenance equipment, according to county records.
The 12,500-square-foot community center, which will act as a shelter when needed, will include a kitchen, boardroom, meeting rooms, showers, reception area and a multipurpose area that could potentially house dozens to hundreds of people, according to a copy of the building’s floor plan.
Office space will also be provided for volunteers, the Texas A&M AgriLife extension office, Bastrop County 4H clubs and the Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team, which helps with disaster recovery and cleanup.
In 2016, the Bastrop City Council voted to lease to the county a 1.5-acre parcel of land at Mayfest Park off Loop 150 to build the facility. The city agreed to lease the property to the county for 99 years for a one-time payment of $77,845 — or $1 per square foot.
The shelter will be the fourth in the county after three were built or expanded in Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville as part of a $26 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant awarded after the 2011 Complex Fire.
The HUD grant helped fund 13 infrastructure projects aimed at making the county more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
Other projects funded through the grant include planned evacuation routes, a radio tower to strengthen communication, road improvements, erosion and stabilization projects, and Bastrop County Emergency Service District No. 2’s newest fire station.