It looks like Pearland residents who go to Manvel Library won't need to learn a new address for the facility any time soon.

A $2.5 million bond proposal that would have converted Manvel's City Hall into a new library and built a new city hall was soundly rejected by voters.

But Manvel Mayor Delores Martin said she plans to explore options to pay for the projects.

The proposal failed during the Nov. 3 city election by a vote of 393-237. Had it been approved, the city’s property tax rate of 58.7863 cents per $100 valuation would have increased by no more than 2 cents.

Resident Sharon Akery said she voted against the referendum because residents are struggling enough in difficult economic times.

“I don’t think we have the tax base to support it except for the homeowners,” said Akery, 62, a retired administrative assistant who has lived in Manvel for 33 years. “I just don’t think that’s fair.”

Martin said she has been offered “a couple of other avenues” for projects that the bond referendum would have covered. She declined to elaborate on those options until she can explore them further.

‘Perhaps, we could do it without a bond election, which would be fantastic,” Martin said. “But I have to look in to it, check it out with our financial analyst and see if it’s something that we can make work.”

The failed bond referendum would have provided $1.5 million for an approximately 8,000-square-foot single-story City Hall on 6.64 acres north of the existing 1,600-square-foot City Hall at 6615 N. Masters. It would have also provided $500,000 for an approximately 2,500-square-foot expansion and renovation of the existing City Hall into a new library.

The city rents 3,000 square feet for the library in a strip center at 20514 Texas 6.

The bond package also had $500,000 that would have been used for the installation of new water and sewer utilities along FM 1128 from Large Avenue to Scott Street.

Martin said she remains disappointed that the bond referendum was defeated. Its failure sets the city back by about two years, she said.

“I’m really sorry because with the interest rates as low as they are and the contractors’ bidding as cheap as it is, and materials at good prices, this was actually the best time for the city to build a building,” Martin said. “Now, they want me to wait until the economy gets better and everything is wonderful. By that time, it’ll cost us three times the amount to build a building.”

Martin attributed part of the bond referendum’s defeat to a flier mailed before the election that she said had “distorted” information. It stated that the proposal would increase the city’s tax rate by more than 2 cents and that there would not be development along FM 1128, she said.

Both statements were untrue, Martin said. The flier was sent by a group called “Concerned Citizens of Manvel,” she said.

“We had more people that had misinformation than people that had correction information,” Martin said.

After the election, Martin said some residents told her that they did not have enough information about the bond referendum to support it. She said its specifics were available on the Internet and in newspapers.

“We never tried to hide anything,” Martin said. “They said, ‘We’re really sorry. If we understood more we probably would have voted for it.’ Well, don’t come and tell me that now.”

Martin said some who voted against the bond referendum do not want Manvel to grow.

“That’s really sad, because growth is coming whether we like it or not,” she said. “If we are prepared, we can control it. If we are not prepared, it will control us.”