Montgomery City Council considers mayor's $75M plan
Now that Mayor Todd Strange has pitched a $75 million construction and economic development plan, members of the Montgomery City Council must decide whether it's in the city's best interest to incur the new debt in hopes of boosting tourism, creating new jobs and spurring development.
So far, it appears that the City Council is a willing participant in the mayor's plan to pursue a bond and bank line
of credit.
"It's basically an investment in the future of the city," said City Council President Charles Jinright. "When you look at the overall plan, it puts the city in a situation where it can attract a lot of tourism."
The proposal calls for a multi-purpose sports facility, an overhaul of Cramton Bowl and the renovation of City Hall, which would include
restoring the City Auditorium and
returning the current Council Chamber to what it looked like when Rosa Parks was arraigned there in 1955.
The bond money could also pay for a police substation on West Fairview Avenue, a connector road from Ray Thorington Road to Taylor Road -- an area that is expected to be the next major growth spot for the city -- and Carver Advanced Academy.
The money could also go toward what is mysteriously described as "other Economic Development Projects" that could mean significant job growths for the city and county.
What the plan might not cover, though, is the one thing that some city officials believe to be the single most important economic development project for Montgomery --
a high school for east Montgomery.
"All of our high schools are in the west side of the city. The city has grown so much since 1968 (when the last high school was built). The people in east Montgomery just don't have a (public) high school to go to."
"Building a high school in east Montgomery is the No. 1 economic issue for me. We need it bad," Jinright said. "It would accommodate people that don't want to be in private schools. It gives them an alternative. Plus, we just overlooked it for so long."
The city offered to provide up to $25 million of the bond money to go toward building what would likely be a $35 million school, but the Montgomery County Board of Education rejected the idea. The rest of the money needed for the school could come from school improvement grants that the Montgomery Public School System receives, according to school spokesman Tom Salter.
Though the school board rejected a $25 million offer from the city to build a new high school in east Montgomery, Strange said Friday he will keep that option open.
"We're going forward with keeping $25 million as a placeholder in case there are some changes in some people's minds," Strange said. "I haven't spoken to the superintendent about it, but I've been advised I might want to wait (before permanently removing it)."
Strange said since the board voted against the offer last week, he has received calls from board members, both explaining reasons for their votes or requesting more information.
The east Montgomery high school, which could house an international baccalaureate program, could help change the racial makeup of the Montgomery Public Schools, said City Council Vice President
Tracy Larkin.
"I think it's important to have a diversified school system," Larkin
said. "
I think it just doesn't look good to have an all black school system in a city as large as ours with as many races as we have. We should be looking for ways to get the children who left the school system many years ago to come back to the school system.
"We have to do what is right, and I believe the right thing to do would be to build a high school out there," said Larkin, who represents District Three.
District Eight City Councilman Glen Pruitt, in whose district the high school would likely be built, said he would be supportive of the project as long as it was built as a neighborhood school. As the name implies, a neighborhood school would serve the school-aged children who live in the area around the school.
"It's time to do it properly and give the people out east a high school that they've been asking for for so long," said Pruitt, who has two children enrolled at Wilson Elementary School.
Currently, students living in east Montgomery can attend public schools close to home up through junior high. Then, they have to make the trip across town to attend a public high school.
According to a memo that Strange sent to members of the City Council, the following reasons support the move to pursue the $60 million bond issue:
•Market interest rates, both taxable and tax-exempt, are near historically low levels.
•The federal 35 percent and 45 percent subsidies available through the issuance of Building America Bonds and Recovery Zone Bonds, respectively, provide even lower net rates. The city learned this week that it qualifies for $60 million in Recovery Zone bonds.
•Construction costs are competitive and attractive because of the state of the economy.
•There could be a rush later in the year as issuers try to take advantage of the Building America Bonds and Recovery Zone Bonds, which could result in higher rates. Interest rates could also increase soon because of "the deficit spending of federal government and many other economic considerations," according to the memo.
"So, while the market meltdown of 2008 has been painful and the recovery slow, the resulting extraordinarily low interest rates, federal subsidies and favorable construction pricing have created opportunities for those who are positioned to take advantage of these historic developments," Strange wrote in the memo, dated June 1.
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