Should Wake County raise taxes to borrow $120 million for parks and greenways?

Over the next seven years, Wake County could see hundreds of acres of new open space, miles of new greenways, new parks and upgrades to the county's eight existing parks.

But the $120 million price tag would likely come with a tax increase. Wake commissioners are debating whether to put a bond referendum for parks and open space on the November ballot. If they do, and if voters agree to borrow the money, the property tax rate would increase .35 cents per $100 in valuation.

Voters could also be asked to borrow money for schools this fall. Commissioners are trying to decide whether a bond referendum to build and upgrade Wake schools will be for $1.1 billion, or $543 million with a second bond in 2020. Also on the ballot this fall could be a $343 million bond for Wake Tech Community College.

"We have a lot of competing needs and we're going to have to make some really tough decisions in terms of prioritizing, because we can't look to the tax base to fund all of these priorities at the same time," said commissioners Chairwoman Jessica Holmes.

Last year was the fourth year in a row that Wake raised the property tax rate.

With all three potential bonds this year, property owners could eventually see a tax increase between 3.5 cents and 4 cents per $100 valuation. That would cost the average homeowner an additional $95 to $108 a year.

The last open-space bond in Wake, approved in 2007, was for $50 million. Wake also had a $26 million bond for parks in 2004 and a $15 million bond in 2000.

Holmes said commissioners were careful in 2016 to only ask voters to borrow money for the Wake Transit Plan, because public transportation was a top priority. Voters agreed to raise the county’s sales tax rate by a half-cent in order to help fund the $2.3 billion plan for additional bus service.

Holmes said schools should get the same priority consideration this year for a bond referendum. But Commissioner Sig Hutchinson countered that when other bonds are paired with a parks referendum, they are often approved.

Here are details on the possible parks and open space bond:

▪ Open space: Acquire about 1,800 acres that could be used for future parks or greenways;

▪ Greenways: Build about 15 miles of greenways to bridge gaps or connect to major parks or travel destinations;

▪ Southeast Park: Develop a park in the southeastern part of the county in the Battle Bridge Road area;

▪ Lake Myra Park: This is a 224-acre park under development in the Marks Creek watershed in eastern Wake;

▪ Kellam-Wyatt Farm Preserve: A 58-acre urban agriculture farm and nature preserve near Raleigh;

▪ Robertson Millpond Preserve: Expand the 85-acre site in Wendell that is used by kayakers and canoeists;

▪ Sinclair Nature Preserve: This would be a nature preserve in northern Wake County on Falls Lake close to the state parks;

▪ Existing county parks: A number of upgrades that could range from adding park benches, renovating a picnic shelter or adding a nature or education center.

"This was a staff recommendation to the commissioners, but it's still very fluid and could change," said Chris Snow, Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space director. "The money could go up, likely it would go down. It's not set in stone."

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Should Wake County raise taxes to borrow $120 million for parks and greenways?."