Vote ‘For’ Rogers bonds

Election continues investment in vibrant city

When a mayor and city council put a bond issue on the ballot, the projects can be viewed as extravagances or as necessities to keep a growing community strong.

With Rogers’ bond proposal, for which early voting starts today, we think it’s the latter.

The bond issue will raise $240 million for street construction, parks and recreation development and projects designed to improve fire and police protection.

It includes another $59.5 million that essentially takes what remains of Rogers’ 2015 bond issue and refinances it as part of this package. In other words, Rogers residents will, whether the current ballot measures pass or not, continue to pay the existing 1 percent sales tax devoted to the bonds. That $59.5 million remains an obligation either way.

The existing bonds are scheduled to pay off in 2021, at which point the 1 percent sales tax would end. That may sound attractive, but what is that sales tax? It’s the city’s strongest tool for tackling municipal projects that come with big price tags. Rogers leaders know the city continues to have needs most effectively addressed by occasional bond issues.

So Rogers joins most other cities to propose bonds that continue the investment and the established tax, because, as Mayor Greg Hines correctly notes, it’s much harder to convince people to establish a tax than it is to just keep paying a tax they’ve grown used to. Who in conservative Benton County wants to propose a new tax? Call it mental gymnastics if you want, but it has proven over the years far less difficult to continue a tax for the community than to establish it in the first place.

That’s not taxation trickery. It’s just a fact of municipal politics. By continuing the tax, Rogers residents keep up the investment in their town and, as an added benefit, visitors to the community help pay for it, too.

Hines and the City Council are asking voters to continue the tax in place since 1996 that has helped pay for projects like the aquatic center and regional soccer complex, the redevelopment of Lake Atalanta, and street improvements city residents enjoy today. This 2018 bond election, if approved, will provide the following maximum amounts for projects:

$180 million for street construction — Funding for about 30 new and ongoing projects across the city, including three to five new overpasses to help city traffic get across Interstate 49.

$41 million for parks and recreation — A new park on 77 acres at Mount Hebron and Garrett roads in west Rogers; renovation of Northwest and Frisco parks; and a new parks maintenance center. $11.5 million for Police Department — To build a new “hardened” communication facility, including a new radio system, to ensure emergency communications continue in the event of a disaster, such as a tornado.

$9.5 million for Fire Department — To build a new Fire Station No. 8 on West Pleasant Grove Road that would bolster fire coverage on the city’s west side; expand the department’s fire training center; and buy five to seven vehicles.

That is a respectable collection of projects designed to meet real needs facing Rogers residents and businesses. We recommend voters cast ballots “For” these measures.

Virtually every bond issue election faces criticisms, chief among them concerns about asking voters to turn out for a special election and about the refinancing of prior debt. Both often come from people who might prefer a rejection of the measure on the ballot and who don’t mind churning the waters on concerns not directly related to the municipal projects to be funded.

That’s not to say they aren’t fair concerns, perhaps just a little overblown at times.

Every Rogers voter (except those who registered past the state-mandated deadline) is eligible to cast a ballot whether the bond program is decided at a special election or at the general election in November. Nobody is excluded. All it takes is for people to actually do it. Do people who are staunchly in favor or against a ballot measure really bail out of casting a ballot just because it’s a special election? The solution to this concern is to get out and vote. It’s never been easier. Early voting starts today. The election is Aug. 14.

As to the refinancing, that’s a fair concern, and voters have to determine for themselves whether it’s wise to reject a collection of worthwhile projects now just so in a couple of years the city can go through the entire process again. In the meantime, construction costs would have increased and, perhaps, interest rates will have climbed, both cutting into just how far the money will go in paying for actual materials and labor.

Yes, perhaps there’s room for some to think “I wouldn’t have done it this way,” but is that enough to support scuttling work on the projects that are on the Aug. 14 ballot?

The question really comes down to whether, after they’ve reviewed the projects identified by city leaders as priorities, the people agree with that assessment. And as for the projects the city of Rogers has put forward, we believe they are investments well worth making.