By Alexandra Hardle | Arizona Republic
Goodyear is getting ready to send out its first bond request in nearly 20 years in November. While Election Day is Nov. 7, the last day to register to vote is Oct. 10, with ballots being mailed Oct. 11.
Late last year, Goodyear announced it would be forming a citizen bond committee, made up 11 residents and business owners to guide the direction of the bonds. The quickly growing city is technically asking for bonding authority, Goodyear Councilmember Bill Stipp said.
“You’re asking for the authority to go out and buy up to that amount of money for those bonds,” Stipp said. That means that the city won’t acquire the money right away; it will acquire the money on a project-by-project basis as they come up.
There will be three bonds on the ballot: one for transportation, one for public safety and one for parks and recreation. And they will be three separate questions on the ballot, meaning residents don’t have to vote for all three.
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The bond committee spent months working on the bonds, Stipp said. While they may have taken some input from city staff in terms of Goodyear’s needs, the citizen group decided what the priorities should be in the bond election, with the City Council supporting that, Stipp said.
