Revised bond package

Wow, who knew the staff could move so quickly? The City of Mesa has already updated their bond information with the new revised numbers as requested by the council. The smaller package is around $158 million and is scaled back in both transportation and public safety projects.

From the look of it, they cut way back on the intersection projects and removed some other street projects. It looks like Scott Somers district got a couple of things snipped, I wonder if that had anything to do with his behavior on the Gateway residential issue.

On the public safety side, the rennovations have been put on hold (good idea) and they cut back on the number of stations that will be constructed for now. It doesn't mention how they are going to fund the people needed to operate these new stations. So, I looked at the staff's presentation and its in there, $4.3 million a year in operations. Based on what I think they are saying, they are going to take a small tax out on the existing bonds to offset the funds needed to be free for the operations.

If you look on Slide 20, I think it is saying that it will be between 3 and 7 cents to cover this. While it seems like a small number, its going to be a big deal to a lot of people because it means going back and putting taxes on old bonds.