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Converse council authorizes notice to pursue $18.5 million certificates of obligation for road, utility and park projects
Summary
Council approved a resolution authorizing publication of notice of intent to issue $18.5 million in certificates of obligation; staff said the borrowing would not raise the property-tax or utility rates and is the first legal step toward issuance.
The Converse City Council approved a resolution authorizing publication of a notice of intent to issue certificates of obligation totaling $18.5 million to fund several projects identified at a prior meeting.
Interim City Manager Lanny Lambert explained the borrowed amount would include $10.5 million in the general fund (to be repaid from property taxes) and $8 million in the utility fund (to be repaid from utility collections). Staff said the city’s financial adviser advised these borrowings can be structured without increasing the current tax rate or utility rates because existing debt service will be retired in next year’s budget.
Council members asked for clarification on contingency and rounding. Staff said the project listing was shown as Exhibit B in the packet and noted they had added approximately 20% for contingencies, then rounded the figures. The underlying figure for the general-fund portion was $10,427,692; rounding to $10.5 million represented an increase of less than 1% over that component, staff said.
The item on the agenda was described as resolution 8 7 3 2 0 2 5 and included compliance language referencing SEC Rule 15c2-12 for required disclosures. The city’s financial adviser was present to answer questions and told the council this vote is only the initial legal step: the council would receive bids on Aug. 5 and would separately approve any final issuance of debt.
A councilmember moved to approve the resolution; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote. Staff emphasized that adoption of the resolution does not by itself incur debt — it authorizes the publication and allows the city to proceed to the next legal steps toward issuing certificates of obligation later in the summer if the council decides to proceed after receiving bids.
Listed projects and funding relationships were available in the meeting packet as Exhibit B; staff noted the city matched MPO grants and ARPA funds on some projects and said the borrowing would fund the city’s share and related local projects.
