Durant utilities authority and council approve up to $67.72 million in financing for Main Street, drainage and waterline projects

The Durant City Utilities Authority and the Durant City Council approved a package of financings intended to fund a multi-part infrastructure program that includes a full reconstruction of Main Street, associated drainage improvements, and a new transmission waterline.

Allen Brooks (Public Finance Law Group) and Chris Gander, the city’s financial adviser with BOK Securities, outlined the structure: the Authority will seek a bank placement to provide approximately $16,000,000 in proceeds for the Main Street reconstruction (with a 10% contingency on engineer estimates), and two Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) financings for the drainage project (up to $16,450,000, maturity targeted to 2049) and the waterline project (up to $35,270,000, 30-year financing). Brooks said all transactions would be secured by utility revenues and the voter-approved half-cent sales tax (a 3¢ collateral pledge noted during the presentation).

Gander told trustees and councilors the transactions were structured conservatively and that combined debt coverage would remain well above the 1.4x covenant (estimated around 2.7x after the new debt). Staff said engineering is further along on the street project than drainage, that construction will go out for competitive bids after engineering is complete, and that projected closing for the OWRB loans is expected in December if applications proceed as planned.

Trustees approved the Authority’s resolutions for the bank-placed note and the two OWRB loans by roll call; the City Council subsequently approved the corresponding city resolutions to incur the indebtedness. Council and staff emphasized sequencing of bidding and engineering to avoid redoing work (e.g., completing drainage design before final street reconstruction).