Voters Approved Radio System Bond Measures

It was a successful Tuesday election day for cities and counties in Texas and Virginia attempting to fund improvements for their public safety radio systems. Voters approved bond measures with wide margins, but in at least one case declined to actually fund paying back the bonds. Burleson (Tex.) voters approved $1.8 million in bonds for a new Project 25-compliant radio system on a 1,118 to 592 vote. The city is now using a 482 MHz T-band trunked radio system for public safety communications. However, as part of public safety spectrum reassignments, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered T-band users to vacate their frequencies by 2020. Burleson intends to become a member of the existing Ft. Worth/Tarrant County regional radio network (800 MHz trunked), paying $813,000 for radios, $270,00 for consoles and $717,000 for other gear and services. In Chesterfield County (Virg.), voters passed a $49 million bond to construct a new public safety radio system, 70% to 30%. However, the same voters rejected a so-called “meals tax” measure by a 56% to 44% vote that would have funded the radio system. County officials they must now consider what services might be reduced in order to pay off the radio bond issue, along with a school bond the voters passed. The current radio system was built in 1997 and county officials say it’s “near obsolete.” The county, adjacent Henrico County and Richmond city operate an 800 MHz trunked radio system. The upgrade would also meld the system with adjacent Petersburg and Hanover Counties.