Alva approves arena authority bond issuance, ties TIF increment to repayment

The Alva City Council on May 20 voted to approve Resolution 2025‑006, authorizing the Alva Arena Authority to issue tax apportionment bonds and approving a security agreement that pledges tax‑increment revenues as repayment for the bonds.

The measure, moved by Councilman Parsons and seconded by Councilman Hoffman, passed on a roll call vote. Bond counsel Bodie Bachelor of Centennial Law Group told the council the financing would provide funds from purchasers of the bonds to pay construction costs for the arena and that the repayment source is incremental revenues from the existing tax increment financing (TIF) district.

"This is not a debt of the city. This is not a tax on anyone in the city," Bodie Bachelor said, describing the arena authority as a public trust whose debt is payable by the authority itself. He explained the security agreement links the TIF's incremental sales‑ and property‑tax revenues to the bond purchaser as a source of repayment.

Bachelor said the arena authority's beneficiaries are the city and the county and noted the county commission had already approved its part. He told council members the city would sign three closing documents: the resolution, a security agreement addressing the incremental revenues, and a closing certificate.

Council discussion was limited before the vote. Drew (identified in the packet exchange but without a formal title given in the record) said he had reviewed the documents and indicated no issues. The motion passed with affirmative votes recorded from Parsons, Hoffman, Krackenberg, Farris, Bowman, Lark, and Smollett (votes recorded on the roll call).

Next steps described at the meeting included execution of the closing documents and proceeding to the bond closing so funds will be available for arena construction.