By Mary Hladky
Boca Raton residents will be asked for a second time if they support financing the cost of new police facilities.
Four City Council members, with Jon Pearlman absent, voted unanimously on Oct. 27 to place a measure on the March 9 city election ballot that would allow the city to issue up to $125 million in general obligation bonds to finance a new police headquarters and related facilities. A “dedicated downtown police facility” would be included.
But to the dismay of some outspoken residents, the council has put off specifying where the headquarters would be located and what the downtown facility would comprise.
The rationale is that those decisions need not be made until the council knows if residents are willing to pay for new police facilities.
The headquarters location is a divisive issue.
Some residents support the city’s preferred location on city-owned land east of the Spanish River Library, while others insist the headquarters should remain in the downtown.
The ballot language, if approved by voters, would guarantee a police presence in the downtown although not necessarily a headquarters.
Nearly 55% of voters in this year’s city election rejected financing for new police facilities.
Yet city officials say new facilities are badly needed to replace the current old and undersized headquarters on the downtown government campus.
To shore up support, they have reduced the size of the project from 165,000 to about 100,000 square feet, and the total cost from $190 million to no more than $125 million.
The original proposal was based on the size the city would need in 2046. The smaller one meets the needs at present.
An August survey of residents showed majority support for a new police complex, but disagreement on the best location.
If voters approve project financing, the city would issue general obligation bonds for a 30-year term.
Under the original proposal, the city would have issued up to $175 million in general obligation bonds. The remainder of the $190 million cost would have come from the city’s general fund.
Under the plan now being advanced, the bond authorization would not exceed $125 million.
Residents would pay the cost through a property tax increase. But that hike would be less than it would have been under the original proposal.The city estimates it would cost the owner of an “average” home about $101 a year, without specifying such a home’s assessed value.
The previous projection for a home with an assessed value of $475,000 was $124 a year.
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