BY JESSICA SHORTEN
Some context
2024 reserve fund components
$31.8 million: operating reserve $31.5 million: capital replacement reserve $26.3 million: additional reserve components $11.4 million: park needs assessment reserve $8 million: hotel tax reserve $4 million: comprehensive community services
township from needing to use bond funding for capital projects. However, the 2024 planned proj- ects will reduce the general capital improvement fund from $70.5 million to $48.4 million by 2025. The capital replacement reserve of $31.5 million will help to maintain the ongoing improvement fund, Sharp said. Sharp informed the board Aug. 22 that funding for projects, such as a poten- tial performing arts center, could not be ocially budgeted until the 2025 budget cycle.
The township has $113 million in total reserve funds; however, the majority is predesignated to various projects. Sharp said a portion of the township’s capital improvement fund, which is replenished by the capital replacement reserve annually, is set to be spent over the next ve years starting in 2024. The township maintains a capital improvement fund each year for routine maintenance and replacement projects. Sharp said it prevents the
SOURCE: THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIPCOMMUNITY IMPACT
What they're saying
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“Alden Bridge Sports Park is not fully funded. We did the best we could with the $19 million that was available last year, but it’s just like Bear Branch Park. ... Somewhere in all of those projects, that $3.5 million is needed in order to
“You get your money, and then you gure out how to spend it. My preference is you nd what your [tax] rate is, and then you have a nite amount of money that we can nd out where our priority in these initiatives should fall.” KYLE WATSON, VICE CHAIR, THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS
An indoor performing arts center for live music and theater near the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands has been a topic of interest since before the pandemic. However, the project was put on hold in 2020 due to economic conditions, and the township did not extend an agreement to explore the possibility with the Pavilion. The board unanimously agreed Aug. 22 to put a center back on the table as a funding priority starting in 2025. Sharp said the township has $8 million available to create site development plans and then leverage funding for potential debt to build the center. A potential cost for the center has not been released.
advance those highest priority projects that were identied.” MONIQUE SHARP, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP
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THE WOODLANDS EDITION
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