Valparaiso is looking to keep up its investment in its roads.
This year, the city set aside a record $8.8 million for paving projects. Next year, it expects to have at least $8 million available, but it has to borrow some money to make that happen.
Last week, the city council agreed to issue a short-term general obligation bond. It will bring in $6 million — $4 million for paving and $2 million to replace the irrigation system at the Forest Park Golf Course.
The approval wasn't without some lengthy discussions at recent council meetings, especially when it came to the golf course irrigation proposal. Council President Robert Cotton asked whether more of the cost should be passed along to golfers, considering the explosion of the course's popularity since the COVID pandemic.
"That sector that could easily — much more easily — absorb — that's not prejudicial, I suppose, but it seems to me that they're retired, relatively affluent," Cotton said. "That's that market segment that I see there versus the general public."
But Valpo Parks officials worry that raising the golf fees too much could drive customers away. Parks Director Kevin Nuppnau said his staff has been putting money into the irrigation system's failing components for several years, "totaling more than $110,000 in expenses related to the irrigation system. That total does not account for the number of labor hours spent addressing the issues and the amount of water wasted for an inefficient system."
The bond will be paid back over five years at an expected interest rate of about three percent. Even with the additional debt, the city's tax rate is expected to go down slightly, due to an increase in the city's tax base.
