06291981 Special Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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102 Special Meeting June 29, 1981 Page 2 Mr. Bill Harrison of First Southwest Company Investment Bankers dis- cussed the two types of bonds there are. General obligation tax bonds are used to provide funds for capital improvements for non-revenue pro- ducing facilities, such as streets, parks and drainage. Revenue bonds are secured by the revenue that will be produced by improvements, such as water and sewer. If a City puts in new water lines or sewer lines the income produced from these improvements would need to be budgeted in a manner sufficient enough to make the principal and interest pay- ments on the bonds. He stated the majority of cities will vote for or against the General Obligation Bonds. Cities usually itemize so much for streets, drainage, parks, city hall or jail, etc., but don't specifically set out how much for what street, for example. He said if you itemize on the ballot, that money can only be used for those proposed improvements. If a project ends up costing less than esti- mated, then you. lose some of your authorization to place the money on other streets where it is needed. The Council would have a moral obli- gation to use the money where they stated .it would be used. If you specifically set out the dollar amount for a street and the project costs less than estimated, then you cannot move the money to another project where needed. It was his recommendation not to specifically name streets with dollar amounts on the ballot. Mr. Kreczmer expressed his concerns that the City was in need of a bond being passed and that he felt it would be necessary to specifically name Bishop Street in order to get it passed so that the electors would know that the money was going to be spent for that specific street. City Manager A. C. Gonzalez went over some of the items more specifi- cally. The EPA allocation was an amount needed to match government funds on a three to one ratio (25%) for sewer replacement and for construction of an expanded contact stabilization plant. The Spring- lake Pump is in need of building improvements. Eighty-five percent of our water production is from this pump. The Midway well is for the installation of a well near Loop Street to increase the pressure and increase our supply of water to the high level area which is al- most at. capacity use during hot, dry periods in the summer. The down- town area presently has sandcasted lines that need replacement. The cemetery needs the water system replaced and other improvements. There was much discussion on the allocation of park funds. Mr. Cavazos recommended spending funds on tables, benches and grills in Rio Vista Park and Mr. James recommended the allocation of $10,000.00 for this equipment or whatever the Parks and Recreation Board recommended as needed equipment in our parks. An additional $140,000.00 would be used towards the riverwalk project, recommended Mr. James. Mr. Brown proposed that the Council be given time to consider the costs of equip- ment presented by the Parks and Recreation Board and for the $10,000.00 figure recommended by Mr. James to be a fluid figure, that could be changed if the $10,000.00 allocation was not sufficient. City Manager Gonzalez indicated that the matching funds to be used with the Soil Conservation Service funds could go for improvements such as picnic tables, barbeque equipment, playground equipment in that area, not just for a sidewalk, but that it would take $110,000.00 for the side- walk project completion, Mr. James then opened the public hearing on the bond program for the public to ask further questions or make further comments. Mrs. Beth Morrisset asked about the matching funds with SCS being postponed until such time as retention dams were constructed upstream. She expressed concern that if retention dams were placed in the river in the city limits that they might be washed away. Mr. Gonzalez addressed her concerns stating it was an opportunity rather than a requirement for the City to make improvements to the river area at one-half the cost and that the retention dams were designed to with- stand stress in the 100-year flood plan. Mr. Bill Pryatel wanted to know' how the City was going to pay for the bonds, and Mr. James said with the help of Mr. Harrison, the City's bond consultant, we were going to attempt to better our bond rate.