Drivers throughout the Bull City may notice much smoother rides if a street bond referendum is passed by voters Nov. 2.
The referendum, titled Operation Green Light, is a proposed $20 million bond to be used for paving more than 150 miles of city streets. Currently, there are 680 miles of streets in Durham, one-fifth of which are considered to be in “poor” or “very poor” conditions, City Manager Tom Bonfield said in a video promoting the referendum.
“It’s an important decision that will have a long-term impact on street maintenance in Durham for years to come,” he said in the video. “We’ve come a long way in catching up on our street maintenance, but we still have a ways to go.”
Durham was granted similar bonds totaling $20 million in 2005 and 2007, but city officials said the loan only funded approximately half of the road reconstruction needed throughout Durham.
“We didn’t predict that we would have to do another bond referendum in 2010,” said Beverly Thompson, Durham public affairs director. “We wanted to make as much progress as we could [with the bond money from 2007], and we thought we could get more done than we actually ended up getting done.”
Despite the fact that the bond will come paired with a tax increase, Thompson said officials have received a positive response from the community, adding that the required tax increases will be minimal.
According to Bonfield, the new annual tax increase will cost the average homeowner—an individual who owns a house valued at $150,000—about $11.40 a year.
If the project is not approved, Thompson said the city will have to find alternative methods to fund the repairs, which may include further tax increases or service and program cuts. If the referendum is approved, road construction will begin in 2011 as soon as the winter months have passed, she added, in which case the project is expected to be completed by 2012.
Operation Green Light has already been endorsed by numerous organizations, including the Durham Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and Board of Directors, Friends of Durham, Downtown Durham, Inc., Citizens Capital Improvement Panel, Durham People’s Alliance and Independent Weekly, Thompson noted. The City Council has also noted concerns from the public about current street conditions, she said, with two out of three residents stating in a 2009 survey that street maintenance should be one of the city’s top priorities.
Bonfield explained in the video that because Durham maintains a AAA bond rating, the City can borrow the necessary money with the lowest interest rates available. That, along with lower contracting prices and oil prices that are 30 percent lower than they were in 2007, make this paving season the best time to begin, he added.
City Council Member Eugene Brown said that given the current poor economic conditions and Durham’s unemployment rate—which reached 7.3 percent in August according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—the referendum will allow the city to provide its citizens with much-needed jobs. Brown also noted that by repaving roads this year, the city will save money on road repairs in the future.
“Now is the time to build and make infrastructure repairs because the cost is astronomically low and it employs people,” Brown said. “When you’re in a recession, it’s good to use public funds to employ people to do the work that needs to be done. The longer you wait, the more it’s going to cost you.”
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