The Jersey Village City Council on July 21 authorized issuance of remaining general-obligation bonds from the 2023 voter authorization and received citizen petitions that will trigger an election process for certificates of obligation or alternatively allow the council to pursue a general-obligation bond election.

Finance Director Jennifer Brown and municipal-finance advisors with BOK Financial summarized results of a negotiated sale of the remaining 2023 authorization. John Robock of BOK Financial told council the city sold $8,105,000 in bonds and received investor premium and other proceeds that generated total funds of $8,155,000. Robock reported an all-in true interest cost of 4.613% and said Standard & Poor’s had assigned a AA+ rating to the issue. He said the lower-than-expected interest rate reduced projected debt-service requirements by roughly $1 million compared with earlier projections.

Following the bond report, the city secretary certified two separate citizen petitions filed under Local Government Code §271.049(c) protesting notice to issue Certificates of Obligation (series 2025A and 2025B). The petitions contained 293 qualified signatures each; staff said the city’s qualified-voter roll that day was 5,031 and 5% of that total is 252 signatures, so the petitions exceeded the 5% threshold. The council accepted the certifications and directed staff to present ordinances and options for an election. City staff and bond counsel explained options: the council could let the certificates of obligation proceed to an election on the noticed language, could abandon the CO notices and call a general-obligation (GO) bond election at a possibly different amount, or could adjust the not-to-exceed amounts before calling an election. Staff emphasized an August 18 statutory deadline as the last date the council could call an election to place a question on the November ballot.

Bond counsel and staff discussed technical differences between COs and GOs. Counsel noted that CO propositions are bound to the language of the published notices (projects named in the notice) and that a GO election can be structured into multiple propositions if projects are dissimilar — a consideration for the proposed city campus project that may include multiple facilities. Several council members said the CO route could keep the city campus projects together as a single proposition, whereas a GO election might require the attorney general’s review and potentially separate propositions for different buildings or functions. Council members also voiced concern about voter fatigue if multiple large measures appear on the same ballot.

Council adopted the ordinance authorizing issuance of the bonds (ordinance number as posted with the agenda) and accepted the petition certifications (Resolutions 2025-45 and 2025-46). Staff will bring back a draft ordinance and timeline options for a bond election at the Aug. 18 meeting; staff warned that if the city proceeds with a CO election the dollar amount for the noticed CO may be adjusted but project language cannot be changed without republishing or seeking counsel guidance.

Ending: Council’s acceptance of the petitions stops the city from authorizing the protested CO issues without an election and requires staff to prepare election ordinances and legal advice for council consideration at the August meeting.