The Orange City Council tentatively agreed to borrow $8 million for major projects, but did not decide on specific things to do.
The council Tuesday held a public workshop to talk about selling bonds, a way of borrowing money, after bonds that paid for the police station and No. 3 fire station are paid off next year.
City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre said the city has budgeted about $500,000 a year paying off those bonds. The city could borrow more money to have the same amount budgeted each year to complete projects without raising property taxes.
The council agreed to sell $8 million in bonds to be repaid through 20 years.
Some of the money will be targeted for infrastructure. Oubre said the city budgets each year for road repairs, but it is hard to catch up with all the streets. He suggested using at least $3 million of the money for roadwork.
The council will be deciding on “quality of life” options like repairing the 40-year-old Natatorium covered pool, demolishing the Natatorium and building a water splash park, improving baseball and softball fields to attract tournaments, or possibly building a youth center.
Oubre said the council has been spending money to clean up the city by demolishing dilapidated and abandoned houses. He said some of the federal money sent to Texas for Harvey could be used for demolitions and drainage, however it could be several years before the money gets to Orange.
Public Works Director Jim Wolf provided several drawings of possible splash water parks.
Oubre pointed out that city hall should be in the 16th Street location next summer. (The city has bought the First Financial Bank building.) The Natatorium is within yards of the back of the new city hall location. If the council decides to build a splash park there, it will be near city hall.
He said splash parks can be built to all kinds of budgets. A drawing also included a dog-pet play area near a splash park at the Natatorium area.
Another option would be to put in a walking track at the Natatorium site. The old live oak trees provide shade and the track area could include benches and picnic tables.
Some council members questioned whether a water park for young children that would be open only a few months of the year would be the best use of the money.
Oubre also mentioned that the Lions Den Park built with volunteers through community-wide fundraisers will need to be refurbished. The wooden play area was built some 20 years ago in a city park. Oubre said in a few years, the city will not be able to buy insurance on the park because of the condition.
One councilor asked if the city could hire someone to do a survey of residents of Orange to see what they want. Oubre said it will be up to the council to decideĀ spending $10,000 for a survey.
He said it can be hard to determine on questionnaires whether the person responding lives in the city. Sometimes in previous questionnaires or comments, the most vocal people did not live in the city and were not taxpayers, he said.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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