City official seeks up to $115 million bond for parks, athletic complex, riverfront and other projects

A city official for Gadsden City asked the council on an unspecified date to consider a bond package of up to $115,000,000 to pay for a series of capital projects across the city.

The official said the proposal is funded from a dedicated bond fund — referred to in the presentation as the “$3.20/$3.40 fund” designated for debt service and related projects — and does not draw from the general fund or day-to-day operating budgets for police, fire or public works. “We have been preparing for this for 3 years. This is our third year in office,” the official said. “We have cut. We have consolidated. We have reorganized, and we have strategized, and we have come to this plan.”

The presentation outlined a list of proposed projects and funding approaches, and a nut graf: the bond would finance parks and recreation upgrades, an indoor athletic center, a championship turf field at Gadsden State Community College, riverfront improvements tied to a U.S. Highway 411 reroute, trail development and repairs to the Broad Street Bridge. The official described the bond as intended to attract tournaments, students and broader economic development while preserving the city’s operating budget for staff pay and services.

Most prominent among the projects was a proposed…