Santa Fe city officials and councilors made their case last night for a $25 million road improvement bond ballot question that will go before voters on November 5.
If voters say “yes” to the question, the city will repave roads, repaint traffic line markings, and repair and replace sidewalks and curbs in all four of the city’s districts.
If the bond is approved, homeowners will have to pay an additional $25 per year in property taxes for each of the next 20 years for a home valued at $500,000.
The city’s department of public works will hire contractors to tackle 51 large– and medium-sized projects, with about $6 million earmarked for the work in each of Santa Fe’s four districts.
There will also be a series of smaller projects on residential roads.
Director of Public Works Regina Wheeler gave a presentation at the city’s regular governing body meeting last night.
She listed the benefits of the overarching work as well as several of the individual projects, including long stretches of Cerillos, Airport, and Rodeo Roads and old Santa Fe Trail.
“These names ring like a song in my ears because I've been talking to residents for so many years about their needs in these areas and then hearing from their councilors as their advocates for these investments," Wheeler said.
"Reducing the number of potholes people experience, increasing the effectiveness of our maintenance teams, addressing these issues before we lose the road completely and it costs us more money in the future.”
City finance director Emily Oster also talked about the project last night, saying that the plan is to complete at least 85% of the road improvements within three years for maximum tax benefits.
She also stressed that it’s a completely different ballot question and project from the county’s $4.9 million roads improvement bond question that voters will also see on their ballots.
Councilor Signe Lindell spoke near the end of a 90-minute discussion on the city ballot question, pleading for city residents to vote in approval of the road work bond.
"This is a good thing for the city. I can't wait for some of these roads to get redone," Lindell said.
"Everyone benefits from this. We need to do this now. I really encourage people to support this bond. We need it.
If we don't do this, it's going to cost us twice us much money."
The Santa Fe roads ballot question is one of several from the city, county, and state that voters will be asked to respond to, depending on where they live.
