The City has embarked on building a new city hall complex using two existing buildings on the West side of downtown near the library. It is projected to coast $13M with $6.2M of that to come from the sale of three existing city owned buildings.
113 East 8th Street - the old post office
103 West 7th Street - the existing municipal court/city hall
101 East 7th Street - the visitors center
Unfortunately, these three buildings have been appraised at $3.4M, leaving a$2.8 hole in the budget for the new city hall.
The bidding has been closed on these building with the winning bids to be presented to City Council today.
If the bids do not significantly exceed the appraisals, the city will have to issue Certificates of Obligation to make up the difference. Recall that Certificates do not require voter approval even though the funds are being spent on long term capital improvements.
The city's Fiscal and Budget Policy states that "Certificates of Obligation are the least preferred method of financing" and "every effort will be made to ensure public participation in decisions relating to debt financing".
The city needs to use the "slush fund" monies and other reserves before resorting to more debt financing.
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