Residents of The Woodlands Township approved three bond proposals totaling about $50 million to build fire stations, new parks and park renovations, and to refinance existing debt.

By large margins, voters approved $17.3 million for new fire stations and equipment in Creekside Park and Indian Springs as well as a major renovation to Central Station; $12.3 million for new parks in Creekside Park and Sterling Ridge as well as improvements to existing parks and pathways throughout the community; and $20.2 million to refinance existing debt for Fire Stations 6 and the Emergency Training Center, as well as outstanding loans from the Community Associations of The Woodlands.

“I think the Woodlands residents truly believed this was in their best interest and away we go,” said Nelda Luce Blair, chairwoman of the township board. “It illustrates the good job we did of educating voters about what we had and what each bond issue represented.”

The bond package is expected to cover capital projects in The Woodlands Township over the next five years and to stabilize the property tax rates at about 32.8 cents per $100 of assessed values over the next five year. That tax rate will result in a $902 tax bill on the average $275,000 home in 2010.

About 7,000 of the 58,286 registered voters in The Woodlands turned out for the election. This compares to about 15,400 voters in November 2007 in an election to create the Woodlands Township special district and about 6,300 who cast ballots in the first community-wide election of five members to the township board in May 2008.
The bonds were supported by many of the major organizations in the community, such as The Woodlands Community Association, The Woodlands Association, The Woodlands Commercial Owners Association and the South Montgomery The Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.

A small opposition was mounted by a group called Vote Against The Woodlands Bonds, who fought propositions I and II, saying the residents did not need any additional taxes in these tough economic times and that many of the projects could be funded by the township’s reserves.

“I am disappointed with the results and disappointed with the low turnout,” said Landon Estay, founder of the group. “But the people of The Woodlands have spoken."

The firefighting improvement bond were needed to address excessive response time in Creekside Park and Indian Springs. Before a new temporary station opened in Creekside Park, response times to that village were about 15 minutes, with eight minutes to Indian Springs. The Woodlands has a standard response time of five minutes.

Under the park proposal, the township is under contractual obligations to The Woodlands Development Co. to pay half the cost of new parks in Creekside Park and Sterling Ridge, which is expected to cost $7.5 million over the next five years. The township also must pay the entire tab for park improvements to its existing facilities throughout The Woodlands.

Finally, the township will seek better interest rates for outstanding bonds for Fire Station 6 and, the Emergency Training Center and existing debt that will be transferred from the Woodlands Association and The Woodlands Fire Department when a merger is complete on Jan. 1. The Woodlands Township will take over operations, assets and funding of municipal type services for the community at that time. The bonds will not be sold unless a better interest rate can be achieved, said Don Norrell, president of the township.

While the firefighting improvement and the refinancing proposition garnered a 75 and 74 percent approval respectively, the parks improvement only received 66 percent of the vote.

“I’m not surprised about that,” Estay said. “There seemed to be a lot of sentiment that there was too much emphasis on parks and not enough on public safety.”

Blair speculated the difference is results had more to do with the economy.

“They are looking out for the low economy,” said Blair. “That’s prudent.”