The city of Santa Fe will find out in March whether voters are willing to bump up local property-tax bills to fund a list of public-works projects.

The size of any resulting bond issues, however, will depend on how voters react to three separate spending proposals approved last week by the City Council.

The largest would raise $14 million for parks and trails. Another would generate $5 million for public safety, with much of it going to build a new fire station on Santa Fe's growing southwest side. The third would provide $3.8 million for drainage improvements and a solar energy project.

The general obligation bonds would be paid off through property taxes on homes and businesses. After the City Council on Wednesday pared down an earlier plan and voted to put the three questions on the March 6 municipal election ballot, city Finance Director Mel Morgan consulted the city's contract bond advisers for an updated estimate of how tax bills could be affected by the sale of up to $22.8 million in bonds.

Morgan cautioned that the numbers are subject to change depending on market conditions and the values that the tax assessor assigns to properties within city limits. But, he said, if voters approve all three bond questions, the annual tax on a home valued at $300,000 would go up by about $54.

Calculations on the potential tax impact of each individual ballot question, he said, also are subject to factors such as the final total of all bonds to be issued and the final assessed value of property in the city.

Based on documents presented this week to city councilors, here is a breakdown of how officials say they would spend the money:

Question 1: $5 million for public safety

The estimated tax impact on a $300,000 house: $12 a year.

Most of this money would go toward construction of a new fire station near the intersection of South Meadows Road and N.M. 599. The $3.5 million would be enough to build the facility and equip it with a fire engine, tanker truck, ambulance and other necessary tools, but not enough to pay salaries for new full-time staff members.

Compared to other parts of the city, Santa Fe's southern and western edges are getting slower responses from emergency service providers, fire department representatives have said. With the pending annexation of even more territory in those areas, backers of an additional fire station say the facility will help spread the burden more evenly.

The other $1.5 million from this bond question would be earmarked for the final phase of planned improvements to the police department headquarters at Camino Entrada.

Santa Fe already has invested several million dollars in substantial changes to the police headquarters, but managers want to add 5,000 square feet to the facility to accommodate the expected increases in call volume and investigations that would come with the annexation.

Question 2: $14 million for trails and parks

The estimated tax impact on a $300,000 house: $34 a year.

The biggest single item under this proposal is money to begin work on a regional park planned for 98 acres on the western end of the Tierra Contenta Subdivision. City planners are calling it SWAN, for "southwest area activity node."

Councilors approved a $19 million master plan for the park without fanfare at Wednesday's City Council meeting but indicated that only the first $5 million to establish the park's basic features would come from this general obligation bond.

Public Works Director Isaac Pino said Friday that since only the first phase of the park would be funded if voters approve the bond, contractors would complete some infrastructure and basic amenities such as a multipurpose sports field, family picnic area, lawn, basketball court, playground, an access road and parking.

The next largest item included in this proposal is $4 million to implement parts of a five-year wish list adopted by the Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization and the city's Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee. Items on that list include adding and striping bike lanes, installing "sharrows" on street pavement to replace bicycle awareness signs that have worn out, and building trail connections.

Just which projects from that $6 million priority list would get funded through the bond revenue is still up in the air, City Manager Robert Romero said. It's likely that he'll ask city staff to work with the advisory committee on the issue soon, he said.

In approving this bond proposal, councilors earmarked $2 million to connect sections of a trail along the Santa Fe River by building a grade-separated crossing at St. Francis Drive.

This would be the second such project to help pedestrians and bicyclists using trails to get across the busy north-south highway without having to contend with vehicular traffic. Work is nearly complete on a St. Francis Drive underpass for the Arroyo Chamiso Trail near Zia Road.

If voters give thumbs up on this bond question, the city would pave a Santa Fe River Trail connection under St. Francis Drive in a similar way. City Councilor Chris Calvert said he hopes the final cost would come in at far less than $2 million, so the remainder of that earmarked money could help cover other projects on the priority list.

Finally, $3 million from this bond proposal would be spent citywide on improvements at parks not updated under a 2008 bond issue approved by voters. Each of the four City Council districts would see two to six parks get attention, and four regional parks also would get upgrades, including skate park renovations at Ragle Park and Franklin Miles Park.

Question 3: $3.8 million for 'sustainable environment projects'

The estimated tax impact a $300,000 house: $9 per year.

Councilor Matthew Ortiz complained that this bond question is flawed because it combines unrelated types of projects. Others on the governing body said it contains some of the most important projects, including upgrades to more than 50 arroyo drainage features, including work to address problems caused by erosion and sediment buildup in Arroyo Cabra, Arroyo de la Piedra, Arroyo de los Chamisos, Arroyo de los Pinos, Arroyo en Medio, Arroyo Mascaras, Arroyo Mora, Arroyo Rosario, Arrroyo Saiz, Cañada Ancha and the Santa Fe River.

Printed materials describing the projects say they will improve watershed health by correcting substandard drainage, allow more water to recharge the aquifer and reduce flood risk.

Another $1.8 million would be spent on a solar energy system for the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. The city has installed three photovoltaic systems at its facilities in recent years and expects two more to come online by next September. This one would be up to 8 times larger than those individual facilities and, unlike the prior projects, would be fully funded on the front end by the local government.

The plan, according to Housing and Community Development Director Nick Schiavo, would create a carport-style cover for part of the center's parking lot with solar panels that would supply about 30 percent of the electricity needed at the recreation facility and save money on power bills.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.