McGregor council ratifies EDC bond sale, accepts audit, adopts landscaping rules; rejects Highway 317 bids

McGregor City Council on March 10 ratified a series of administrative and development actions, including the McGregor Economic Development Corporation's (EDC) issuance of sales-tax revenue bonds, acceptance of the city's FY2024 financial audit, adoption of a new landscaping and fencing ordinance for new construction, and rejection of bids for State Highway 317 signal improvements. The council also approved a conceptual plan for a large mixed-use development and authorized staff to proceed with a generator sale/trade negotiation with Bluebonnet Water Supply Corporation.

The EDC's bond sale topped the agenda: the council ratified Resolution R-08-2025 approving the issuance of sales tax revenue bonds, series 2025, that will generate a project fund of $3,860,160 to pay for public infrastructure (railroad, streets and roads, water and sewer utilities). Amber Chan of Hilltop Securities told the council the bonds are 30-year, tax-exempt, fixed-rate obligations priced at a 4.79 percent interest rate; Standard & Poor's rated the EDC issuance —A— and Hilltop reported debt-service coverage of more than three times projected sales-tax receipts. The council approved the resolution by voice vote.

Why it matters: the bond proceeds are designated for capital infrastructure that the EDC and city say will support future commercial, multifamily and single-family development on the site described in the financing documents. Hilltop and city staff said the sale closed March 31 under the timetable…