Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Capital Bond topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Aurora staff previews bond plan, eyes $2000000 —000000 ask to address $7000000 in needs
Summary
City staff told the Aurora City Council that a planned public engagement process aims to take bond proposals to voters in November 2026 to fund parts of roughly $700 million in unmet infrastructure needs, with initial polling pointing to a $2000000 —000000 range and emphasis on growth in Adams County.
Jason, a city staff presenter, opened the briefing by saying the initiative ims to "care for what we have, provide for what we need" and described a public engagement process intended to run about two years and lead to a November 2026 ballot measure asking voters to approve bonds for capital improvements.
City staff provided an inventory they described as roughly $700,000,000 in unmet "critical needs," focused primarily on maintaining existing infrastructure and accommodating future growth. "Most of that growth ... is in Adams County," Jason said, noting the region's population has grown about 40% in the last 20 years.
Staff said the administration has tried to exhaust non-voter financing and grant options first. The city issued $35,000,000 in certificates of participation in recent years to address residential-street deterioration and now uses pay-as-you-go capital budgeting to continue work on residential streets. Jason said the city also has had success leveraging federal grants for projects such as the Piccadilly I-70 interchange and ARDA-area connections.
On the size of an initial ballot ask, Jason replied to questions that preliminary polling and analysis point to an initial sales-tax-based question in the $200 million to $300 million range. "Whether that's spread out over one question, spread out over two or three, that's where I think some of that polling could help us come in," he said. Staff emphasized they do not expect a single bond to address the entire $700 million list.
Tax context and options were discussed. Jason said Aurora's current sales tax rate is 3.75% (unchanged since 1993) and that there has not been a property-tax increase since 2000. He noted the city is "debruced" on sales tax but not on property tax and said a local debruce on the city's portion of property tax would yield roughly $15,000,000 a year if pursued.
Staff described outreach to date: 43 events, about 3,600 direct interactions and 2,600 completed online surveys. The city has briefed an Infrastructure Task Force (a council-appointed, business-and-citizen group co-chaired by Councilmember Francoise Bergen and Councilmember Curtis Gardner) on master plans and needs and plans to present summarized outreach results to the council next month before refining ballot questions in the coming quarters.
Jason said the bond package will intentionally include cross-cutting items such as ADA improvements, library and cultural projects, parks and recreation, and transportation multimodal needs, and that staff will likely retain outside project-management firms to help deliver projects on time if bonds are approved.
Next steps: staff will finish master-plan presentations, summarize stakeholder input for council consideration and run further polling and focus groups on question language and structure. Council or staff did not make a formal motion during this briefing; staff signaled intent to return with recommended ballot language and options for council consideration.
