Tax hike OKed for multigen center, park

When the multigenerational center, aquatic facility and abutting regional park at the corner of John Wayne Parkway and Bowlin Road open in 2014, all three community facilities will be finished.

The Maricopa City Council approved a full buildout of the projects Tuesday.

This allows the park to be built with “the whole list of what we heard from the public” in place on opening day, Brent Billingsley, the city’s director of developmental services, told the council.

Originally, the city was going to build the facilities in separate phases, with only some of the amenities – an irrigation lake, small playground, lighted soccer fields and four baseball fields – ready for use at the planned January 2014 opening.

Tuesday’s vote, however, means all three facilities will be finished with all amenities in place.

The added features will include a dog park, skate park, basketball and volleyball courts, additional soccer fields, a large playground and “a fishing lake, not just an irrigation lake,” Billingsley said.

The projects are being funded as planned, using part of the $65.5 million bond voters approved in November 2008. The bond money is only allowed to be used for parks and recreation facilities and a library.

To fund the additional amenities and everything included in Phase I, the city will need to issue approximately $30 million more bond money than it originally planned, bringing the total cost for all three facilities to approximately $50.2 million.

That leaves approximately $15 million of bond money for other projects for which it was approved, including a new library.

State law determines how much bond funding cities can use and when they can use it.

“State statute says that, at any point in time, we can only have (an outstanding debt amount of) 26 percent of the net assessed value of all taxable properties in Maricopa,” explained Tom Duensing, director of finance and administrator for the city.