EL MIRAGE, Ariz. — The City of El Mirage is moving forward with two building projects that voters struck down during a 2023 bond election.
The bond would have paid for an expanded city hall, a new police station, a fire station, and a city court building. But voters overwhelmingly voted against the bond, with 81 percent of voters rejecting it.
Still, El Mirage is moving forward on two of the projects, leaving residents and one city council member angry over the result.
During Tuesday night's council meeting, several council members argued over a decision to buy a parcel of land. The only voice of dissent Tuesday night was council member Anita Norton-McDaniel.
"That's the same parcel of land that the council and the city referred to last year during the bond election," Norton-McDaniel said.
She believes voters didn't just reject the bond measure and the tax increases that came with it, but also the proposal of building new city buildings that she sees as unneeded expenses.
"People were saying 'No,' they did not want to see our money spent on that," Norton-McDaniel said. "If it had been for something that would have directly benefitted the community it would have passed."
Two of those projects are now listed in the city's capital improvement plan; the city hall expansion and the new police station.
Tuesday night, council members said the land parcel came up for sale at a good price, and they believed the city should buy the land for future use anyway.
Norton-McDaniel was the only dissenting vote.
An El Mirage spokesperson told 12News the land would be used for "the community's future growth needs," and that the city hall expansion and new police station will be built in their current locations, not on the newly purchased land.
The city's capital improvement plan is already funded, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said the city's capital improvement plan did not include a new court building or fire station.
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