Even with worrisome economic signs ahead prompted by housing and sub-prime lending woes, most Americans opted on Nov. 6 to improve infrastructure and expand schools and health facilities in their hometowns.
Nearly 85% of ballot issues, representing some $29 billion of municipal spending and new debt, was approved on Election Day 2007, according to The Bond Buyer, an industry publication. But leery and tax-weary voters did manage to defeat big spending measures in New Jersey, Seattle and North Carolina, as well as numerous local initiatives.
Seattle area voters slammed the door on a tax levy that would help pay for transportation projects designed to relieve congestion. The measure failed by a 56% to 44% margin. The proposal would have raised property taxes to generate $1.2 billion for the replacement of the 520 Floating Bridge, which crosses Lake Washington between Seattle and Bellevue, Wash. Total cost of the project is estimated at $4 billion. The rest of the necessary funding is expected to come from a toll and federal and state funds. The city of Seattle earmarked other infrastructure projects that would decrease traffic congestion, as well.
In New Jersey, voters worried about the state's high tax rates and mounting debt, surprised seemingly overconfident lawmakers, including Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and others, by rejecting a $450-million borrowing initiative to pay for stem cell research programs and new facilities. But construction of a $270-million research and development facility at Rutgers University in New Brunswick is proceeding as organizers scramble to figure out new financing source. Lawmakers are looking for more private sector support and plan to add a more heavily promoted stem cell funding measure to the 2008 presidential ballot.
Elsewhere, however, ballot measures catapulted into reality. Texans approved 16 proposed amendments to the state constitution including two statewide propositions allocating billions in bonds for construction, repairs and highway improvements.
Proposition 4, authorized by 58% of voters, allows issuance of up to $1 billion in bonds payable from the general state revenue for maintenance, improvement, repair, and construction projects and for equipment purchase. It also funds construction of three prisons, repairs at state parks and upgrades at hospitals for Texans with mental retardation, among other things.
Proposition 12, passed by 63% of voters, provides for issuance of general obligation bonds by the Texas Transportation Commission in an amount not to exceed $5 billion to fund highway improvement projects. The amendment adds an additional source of $1 billion in bonds backed by the State Highway Fund.
Highlights of statewide county elections included Dallas voters' approval of a toll road along the Trinity River. They overturned a referendum that would have killed the planned road. Central Texas voters passed a $559-million bond package, the largest in the region's history. The bond proposal includes eight new schools, land for an additional nine campuses, a new stadium and additions and renovations. Harris County narrowly passed an $805-million bond, giving the Houston Independent School District funds to build 24 new schools and renovate 134 facilities as well as other improvements.
Denver voters passed all nine of the infrastructure bonds and tax increases, equal to $550 million, known as the A-through-I initiatives. They include $70 million for the expansion of the city's cultural facilities, despite opponents' argument that such entities should raise their fees or seek private funds for repairs and expansions.
More than two-thirds of voters approved spending $150 million for transportation and public works projects, and 60.1% will apply $48.6 million for improvements to health and human services infrastructure needs. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) said the expansion of Denver Health will help the city cope with the exit of area hospitals to outlying communities. Denver parks and recreation centers will receive $93.4 million and public safety improvements garnered $65.2 million. The largest share of that largesse, $39.3 million, will build a new crime lab.
However, voters in Adams County north of Denver, rejected by a wide margin of 65% to 35% a baseball funding proposal, sinking the city's plan to host a minor-league franchise in the northern Denver metro area and halting plans for construction of a minor-league baseball stadium. The city was asking voters to approve an increase in the sales tax of $.20 on every $100 purchase.
Not surprisingly, voters in liberal bastion Boulder County, west of Denver, approved a ballot initiative to expand the county's open-space program, extending its existing open-space tax to purchase trails, pasture and farmland and okaying $40 million for open-space acquisition, trail and trailhead projects and land management. On the East Coast, New Jerseyans, densely packed into their small state, said it was okay for lawmakers to spend $200 million to preserve parks and wildlife habitat.
In Oregon, voters approved Measure 47, which negates some of the property rights landowners secured in an initiative three years ago. The vote was 61% in favor to 39% against. The initiative clarifies property owners' right to build homes and it limits large developments. The earlier law allowed property owners whose property value was reduced by environmental regulations to either be compensated or allowed to use property as originally intended.
Back on the East Coast, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Co., N.C., voters resoundingly supported keeping the half-cent sales tax that funds its mass transit system, and $4-billion light-rail project, and overwhelmingly supported a record $516-million school bond package.
In a result that even surprised mass-transit supporters, 70% of the county's voters rejected a referendum to repeal the tax, which had originally passed in 1998 with 58% approval.
November will be a sweet month for the Charlotte Area Transit System, as the $460-million, 9.6-mi-long first leg of its light rail system open later this month, connecting the center city with south Charlotte. With the repeal measure defeated, the system can now confidently move forward on expansion plans to continue the new line to the north, build a commuter-rail line, and add a streetcar system through the eastern part of the county. The entire system is estimated to cost more than $4 billion and is set for completion around 2030.
School bonds passed with 68% support, and two new middle schools and four elementary schools could open as early as 2009. Bonds will pay for construction of 12 new schools and for expansion and renovations at 17 others. In 2005, a smaller bond package failed with 57% voting against it.
