$50 million bond measure appears headed for ballot
A proposal to pay for a new Campbell police building and an almost-new library moved closer to the November ballot Tuesday night, but the City Council is still wrestling with the exact wording.
It will have until Aug. 10 to act, which is the deadline set by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters for ballot measures to be submitted.
Campbell’s police and library buildings were built in the 1970s, when the city’s population stood at about 24,000. In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population at 41,000.
“We’re not building for today, we’re building for the future,” City Manager Brian Loventhal said of the plan.
What’s proposed is a $50 million bond measure that would increase commercial and residential property owners’ bills by $19 for every $100,000 of assessed value. In other words, a property assessed at $1 million would see a tax increase of $190 annually, Deputy City Manager Al Bito said.
If approved by two-thirds of the voters, the bonds would raise a little more than $3 million annually and be paid back over 30 years.
Bonds are used to finance facilities, and this one would pay to significantly upgrade the library and construct new police emergency operations and 911 centers, among other things.
A site for a new police building hasn’t been finalized, but police Chief Dave Carmichael wants to stay at the civic center.
“It’s centrally located, so we’re able to respond to all areas of the city, it has good freeway access and it’s next door to downtown,” Carmichael said.
The police department is in city hall’s basement, but a modular trailer was brought in 10 years ago to accommodate overflow operations.
“We desperately need a modern building,” Carmichael said.
The emergency operations
center in the library’s basement would be moved and made flexible enough to double as a community room, Carmichael said.
The library, which counts about 1,000 visitors daily, also needs significant upgrades, city leaders say.
“The library building is at the end of of its life,” Campbell Community Librarian Peggy Tomasso said previously. “The plumbing, elevator and electrical all need upgrading.”
Also, the children’s story area that was built for 40 to 50 parents and kids is too small, Tomasso said, adding it sometimes attracts as many as 200.
Vice Mayor Rich Waterman said he sees a new library facility as a place where people can gather and socialize. “It’s not (going to be) the quiet library of the past,” he said.
The council is set to resume discussions July 17.