White City Council adopts resolution to allow reimbursement of certain pre-borrowing project costs

The White City Council approved Resolution 20 25-8 to permit the city to reimburse certain project expenditures from future borrowing if the city later decides to borrow for those projects.

Council members and staff said the resolution is a procedural protection that would let the city reimburse eligible soft and early hard costs — such as certified survey maps and engineering — from the proceeds of future borrowing, but is not a commitment to undertake or fund any specific project.

City staff described the need for the resolution after an initial conversation with an external party raised concerns about whether pre-borrowing expenditures could properly be reimbursed later. A staff member said, “this is not a commitment,” and added the resolution language was provided by “Corals and Brady.” The staff explanation said soft costs already expended can be reimbursed without issue, while some harder costs may require the resolution to be in place before borrowing occurs.

During the discussion staff noted reimbursements would only occur if borrowing later takes place and that any individual expenditures would still be brought forward as actionable items for the council. A council member confirmed that the resolution is intended as a formality to protect the city’s ability to reimburse eligible costs if a borrowing decision is made in the future.

A motion to approve Resolution 20 25-8 was made and seconded; the roll call recorded “Yes” votes from Hill, Broker, Shewing, Greer and Kirk. The motion carried. The council did not tie the approval to any specific project or borrowing decision.

The council proceeded to the next agenda item after the vote.