Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Bonds topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Roswell staff recommend second bond tranche totaling $93.4 million; committee votes to proceed
Summary
City finance staff outlined a recommended second tranche of general obligation bonds totaling $93,400,000 for parks/recreation and public safety projects and the committee voted to move the notice/intent toward council consideration.
City finance staff presented details of a proposed second tranche of general obligation bonds and the committee voted to advance the measure to the full council for formal approval steps.
Bill Godshall, the city's chief financial officer, reviewed the history and rationale for issuing the second tranche. He said the 2022 bond referendum approved three questions covering recreation and parks, public safety, and a downtown parking deck; the first tranche raised $86.2 million in 2023 and financed a set of projects now underway.
Godshall recommended issuing a second tranche of $93,400,000, broken down as $65,200,000 for recreation and parks (Question 1) and $28,200,000 for public safety (Question 2). He said the earlier tranche brought down $53.1 million for parks and $13.1 million for public safety and that $21,000,000 for parks and $17,000,000 for public safety are currently spent or under contract.
His presentation included a projected timeline presented to the committee: staff will bring the approval/notice-of-sale resolution to the mayor and council "in the meeting on Monday the 20 eighth" (as stated in the transcript); a notice of sale and preliminary offering statement would be posted on Friday, June 13; the sale is expected at the mayor and council meeting on Monday, June 23; and closing would occur by July 15 of the same year. Godshall said staff expects to sell bonds at a premium if market conditions permit and estimated an assumed true interest cost of about 4.5 percent under current conditions.
Godshall also presented estimated taxpayer impacts. Using the 2024 tax digest and a preliminary value of a mill at about $8,800,000, he estimated a millage increase of approximately 0.3 mills for the second tranche (compared with 0.8 mills when debt service for the first tranche began). He said the increase would not affect 2025 tax bills but would appear on 2026 bills, and estimated the annual impact to an owner of an average-priced Roswell home ($575,000) would be about $69 per year.
Councilmember Christine Hall moved the recommendation to proceed; Councilmember Allen Sells seconded. Committee members discussed timing, the option of selling at a small premium to increase available cash for projects, and the schedule for bringing the resolution to council. The motion passed unanimously.
No formal sale occurred at the committee meeting; staff will return with the notice-of-sale resolution and related documents when scheduled to the full council.
