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Council approves bond parameters to finance Marilla Park renovation, sets pricing schedule
Summary
City Council approved a supplemental parameters resolution allowing the Morgantown Building Commission to issue up to $11 million in lease revenue bonds to finance Lower Marilla Park improvements; pricing is scheduled next week with a two‑week closing window.
City Council on Oct. 7 adopted a supplemental parameters resolution authorizing the Morgantown Building Commission to sell lease revenue bonds for the Marilla Park improvement project in an amount not to exceed $11,000,000.
The action finalizes the financing documents and allows the city and its underwriters to publish a preliminary official statement and proceed with a negotiated bond sale. Tom Amen of Steptoe & Johnson, bond counsel, and Rob Steptoe of Cruz & Associates, the underwriter, described the timing: the preliminary official statement will be posted to the market, investors will indicate interest, and pricing is scheduled for next Thursday with an anticipated two‑week period to closing.
Melissa Wiles, executive director of BOPARK, outlined the scope of work the financing will support: conversion of the former upper‑pool site into an action sports area (skate/bike), construction of new tennis and pickleball courts, a turf athletic field, renovated Marilla Center with all‑season restrooms, a replacement pavilion, improved trail connections and ADA accessibility, and new spectator and shaded seating for courts.
City staff and bond advisors said the repayment source for the lease payments will be BOPARK's 25% allocation of the city's sales tax. The presenters said that figure currently is approximately $2.5 million annually; using a stressed assumption recommended by the state tax department (a 10% reduction), staff modeled $2.3 million for debt-service capacity. Under those conditions, the combined debt service for the existing 2023 bonds and the proposed 2025A issue produces a pro forma coverage ratio of about 1.47 and a modeled surplus of roughly $630,000, according to the underwriter's presentation.
Rob Steptoe described the sale as a negotiated bond offering — ‘‘the beauty of a negotiated bond sale,’’ he said — which allows flexibility on timing and the opportunity for the underwriter to match bonds to investor demand across maturities. The underwriters said they expected interest among retail and institutional buyers and that the city's ratings and relatively low debt burden should support demand.
Council voted 7–0 to approve the supplemental resolution.
The financing steps described to council: post the preliminary official statement, collect investor orders, price the bonds on the scheduled date, sign final documents in a pre‑closing, and complete the closing roughly two weeks later when funds are wired and construction can proceed under the contract arrangements described.
