2022 LUBBOCK ROAD BOND ELECTION

- FAQ -

What is the financial impact for homeowners ages 65 and up who have filed their property tax exemptions?

Senior voters, 65 and older, who filed for their property tax exemptions will have their property taxes frozen. These seniors WILL NOT see an increase in property taxes if the road bond election passes.

 

What is the financial impact for homeowners if this bond passes?

The average homeowner in Lubbock will see an increase of approximately $16 per year. The Lubbock City Council minimized the financial impact on homeowners when they adopted the “no new revenue” tax rate in September of this year.

 

What is the difference between last year’s (failed) bond election and this year’s proposal?

There are several key differences in the two bonds. Last year’s proposal totaled $174.5 million dollars for eleven miles of new and/or improved roads. This year’s proposal totals $200 million dollars for twenty-two miles of new and/or improved roads. That is twice the total miles of roads for approximately twenty-five million more dollars. Also, this year’s bond proposal includes seventeen road projects as compared to the thirteen projects in last year’s bond.

 

Why is Broadway not part of this year’s proposal?

The 2022 citizens committee charged with recommending all the projects in this year’s bond package did not recommend Broadway to be included in this bond election. This decision lowered the overall cost by forty million dollars. Additionally, to be considered in the future, the Broadway project would need to be better defined and the design approved by the City Council before it is presented to citizens for approval.

 

Some citizens have criticized this package by saying that it is too heavily weighted towards projects outside Loop 289?

The autonomous citizens group that made the recommendations did so based completely on assessed need and independent of political and private interests. Additionally, the city council made no deviation from that group’s recommendations when they approved this bond to be on the ballot. Lastly, the citizens committee reviewed all the ways in which the city currently invests in our roads. They found that there was not a need for arterial reconstruction or expansion other than that on 34th Street. The committee felt that the better investment was in street maintenance. In fact, one of the committee recommendations was to not only continue to fund street maintenance but to increase cash funding for street maintenance.

 

Who may vote in this road bond election?

Any citizen of Lubbock who registered to vote will see this issue on their ballot when they vote in this year’s General Election on November 8th. Early voting will run from Monday, October 24th through Friday, November 4th.