County board approves initial resolution for up to $1.085 million in short‑term notes; municipal advisor and bond counsel retained

Richland County supervisors on Sept. 16 approved an initial resolution authorizing the county to borrow up to $1,085,000 by issuing general obligation promissory notes to finance 2026 capital improvement projects and approved hiring a municipal advisor and bond counsel to take the notes to market.

Carol, representing Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals (municipal advisor), explained the short‑term borrowing process and why the county uses short‑term notes to fund capital projects that would otherwise be limited by the state levy limit. She told the board the initial resolution does not commit the county to immediate borrowing but permits the county to issue notes at a later date. "The initial resolution is the first step in the borrowing process... it does not commit the county to doing a borrowing but rather provides the county board with authority to do a borrowing at a future date," she said.

Bond counsel and staff described the schedule: bids will be solicited with a targeted bid date of Oct. 20, 2025; the board would consider the award resolution that same date; funds would be received around Nov. 19, 2025 and the one‑time note would mature March 1, 2026. Using a working estimate of a 4.25% interest rate, staff presented an estimated principal and interest repayment of $1,098,065, which they said would equal a tax impact of about $0.51 per $1,000 of equalized value (roughly $51 on a $100,000 property) for the short term.

The board approved a municipal advisory agreement with Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals LLC and a scope of engagement with Corals & Brady for legal work on the issuance. Counsel noted bond counsel fees are in the range of $10,500 and other issuance costs would be reflected in the official statement and notice of sale. The board took the initial‑resolution vote on the record and the clerk announced the action passed unanimously.

Officials noted that federal arbitrage rules and federal tax law limit certain uses of proceeds and that the county would deposit proceeds into a project account and may invest funds until they are needed for project costs. Supervisors were told the adoption of the initial resolution requires a three‑quarter vote of county board members elect; because of current vacancies bond counsel advised that the board could consider members‑elect as 17 for the calculation so the three‑quarter threshold would be 13 votes.

The board adopted the initial resolution and the advisory and counsel engagements; staff will return with award documents if and when bids are received.