Council sets referendum on $135 million in bonds for July 26

It is a sign of the times that the Greensboro City Council was able to vote to put $135 million in bonds for election without discussion.

But at the meeting on Tuesday, April 19, that is exactly what happened. After reading the agenda item, Mayor Nancy Vaughan noted that this was merely an update to reflect the new date for the referendum.

Of course, on March 15, the city council voted to take the $135 million bonds off the vote without much discussion, so it seemed appropriate not to discuss putting them back on the vote.

The city council agreed to schedule a referendum on $135 million in bonds to coincide with the 2021 general election in August 2021.

All changes since then have been the result of the City Council’s attempt to reach a moving target, that target being the date of the City Council general election.

When the city council passed the resolution setting the date for the bond referendum, the city council general election was scheduled to take place on either April 26 or May 17. However, the NC Supreme Court postponed the primary election from March 8 to the 17 city council elections as a runoff date of either July 5 or July 26. Apparently, someone in Raleigh realized that holding runoff and local elections on July 5 would result in an embarrassingly low turnout, and the date was set for July 26.

What the city council did last week was finally set the date for the July 26 bond referendum.

The resolution put four bonds on the ballot and voters can vote “yes” or “no” on each bond.

The breakdown of the $135 million bond package is as follows: $30 million in housing bonds, $70 million in parks and recreation bonds, $14 million in fire department bonds, $6 million in law enforcement and 15 million dollars in transportation bonds.

Greensboro voters traditionally hand over Parks and Recreation Bonds. That bond is a bit different, however, in that the city council has said that 50 million of the $70 million bond will be spent on the amalgamation of the Windsor Recreation Center and the Vance Chavis Library into one facility.