Seabrook council hears debt analysis, votes to put police station and pool bond on May ballot

Seabrook council members heard a detailed briefing on the city's current debt position and the property-tax implications of a May 3, 2025 bond election, then voted to place bond propositions for a new police facility and a municipal pool before voters.

John Robuck, the city's financial adviser with BOK Financial Securities, told the council the city's general obligation debt is sold to investors and backed by ad valorem taxes and reviewed three scenarios: an $18 million police station alone, a $4 million pool alone, and a combined $22 million package. Robuck said general obligation bonds "are backed by ad valorem taxes" and noted the city currently structures debt conservatively to maintain favorable ratings from Moody's and S&P.

Robuck said the standalone police station scenario would raise the city's debt-service tax rate by about 4.7 cents (from a baseline debt-service rate of 10.391 cents to about 15.15 cents), the pool alone about 1.6 cents, and the combined proposition about 5.5 cents. Under the combined scenario he said the increase for an owner of a $100,000 home (no exemptions) would be approximately $55.10 annually; for a $300,000 home he gave an estimated annual impact of about $133, or roughly $11 per month.

Why it matters: the council must decide by Feb. 14 whether to call the election. If voters approve a proposition, staff would then sell the bonds (Robuck said sale would be targeted for July 2025) and proceeds would be delivered after closing. Robuck cautioned that interest-rate conditions and market volatility affect issuance costs and that the city maintains a target debt-service fund balance and conservative growth assumptions for taxable values when calculating tax-rate impacts.

Council discussion ranged from technical questions about taxable-assessed valuation assumptions and how enterprise fund balances are treated for tax-supported debt, to broader concerns about the quantity of city debt. One council member read a principal debt figure of $60,323,957 from the presentation materials and questioned whether the packet could be simplified for the public; Robuck and other council members explained different debt figures in the packet (Robuck referenced roughly $42.2 million of outstanding general-obligation debt with $15.5 million specifically supported by water/sewer or EDC revenues). The council's bond counsel, Dietz (Orec), was present and available to answer legal questions about the election order.

Formal action: the council voted to place the bond propositions on the May 3, 2025 ballot. Council members were repeatedly reminded by staff that authorizing the election does not obligate the city to issue bonds if later cost estimates or other information change; voter authorization simply permits the city to move forward with the sale if the measures pass.

Ending: If approved by voters, Robuck said the bonds would likely be sold in mid-2025 with proceeds used for the projects described in the ballot language. The council's next regular meeting is Feb. 18, 2025.