Even if you don’t like government debt, Fort Worth’s bond package is worth it. Here’s why

Over the past decade, Fort Worth has been one of the fastest-growing areas of the country, and many of those new residents are settling in the city’s northern region. More than 270,000 Fort Worthians now live north of Loop 820. That is more than 25% of our city’s population.

North Fort Worth expansion has sparked a significant amount of our commercial growth. There are new startups, relocations of businesses such as Linear Labs, and an impressive expansion of current businesses in the Alliance corridor. It all generates new tax dollars that city and county governments spend on basic services such as law enforcement, parks, and transportation infrastructure.

Areas in North Fort Worth such as Marine Creek Road and Bailey Boswell have some of the city’s most jammed streets and worst commute delays. They are examples of population growth that has outpaced infrastructure expansion.

Solving that congestion requires purchasing rights of way and paying for new or expanded street inventory. It is remarkably expensive, and our growth doesn’t produce enough new revenue to cover it.

On the May 7 ballot, we will be asked to vote on the city’s $560 million bond package that will fund these big projects.

We conservatives rightly question the wisdom of borrowing money to pay for government services. We note that debt accumulation is risky because we might not have enough to pay it back in the future. Furthermore, if we are spending tax dollars efficiently, we should have enough to cover our growth costs without borrowing.

But government debt can be just the right medicine if it is used under the right circumstances. For example, issuing bonds makes sense when a city is expanding, and when it has a history of balancing its budget and paying its previous debts. The city of Fort Worth checks those boxes.

The city allocates about 20% of its annual discretionary budget toward debt reduction. We steadily pay back what we owe, and with our growth trajectory, we can feel confident in our ability to support future debt obligations.

The real benefit of bond funding is that we more quickly realize the improved quality of life that comes with lowered traffic congestion. We also more rapidly build the infrastructure that supports business growth which shifts the local tax burden from residents to businesses.

When we borrow to build new infrastructure, we require current and future residents to assume its construction cost. That’s good policy because future residents will be driving on those roads for decades to come.

In Fort Worth, we still use debt for street repair (rather than new infrastructure construction), though we are doing so less and less under a plan installed by City Manager David Cooke in 2014. If we stay on course, we will fund all infrastructure repair and maintenance without having to use bond money as soon as 2050.

The city must do a better job of completing these projects on time. Delays diminish the usefulness of borrowing. And too much of this bond package is allocated toward non-transportation infrastructure. The current allocation is about 67% transportation and should be closer to 90%.

Nevertheless, we should get behind this bond package. If it fails, as was the case for a number of recent county and school bonds, we can count on even more road congestion, slower business growth, and a greater tax burden on residents over the long term.

If it passes, a significant portion of it will fund north Fort Worth transportation, and that is exactly where it should go. It is a smart investment for the future health and wealth of our city.