Box Elder Council approves revenue bond and $3.40 sewer surcharge to fund Highway 1416 upgrades

Box Elder’s City Council on (date not specified) approved a revenue bond financing package and a customer surcharge to fund Phase 1 of the Highway 1416 sewer upgrades. Interim Finance Officer Renee Baker told the council the resolutions are needed to close Loan 2 for the project and that the surcharge would likely be implemented on June 1.

“We’re set to close on this loan just a couple of weeks after these resolutions are in,” Baker said. “This is a surcharge, paid back loan…we are also just trying to make sure that we’re not putting too much of the burden on our customers.”

Resolution 25-12 authorized the issuance and sale of a revenue bond, approval of the loan and bond documents, creation of dedicated funds and a segregated special charge to secure bond payments. Resolution 25-13 amended the city’s rate structure to include a surcharge of $3.40 per user to repay the project revenue borrower bond; the resolution also calls for yearly review of surcharges.

Councilmember Davis moved approval of both resolutions; each motion passed on roll call with the council voting Aye. Ordinance 763, adopted on second and final reading the same night, updated the master fee schedule to incorporate the surcharge and new credit card fees from the city’s Tyler payment system.

Baker said the city will re-evaluate surcharges across the board before fully implementing any new charge and reiterated the city’s intent to avoid undue burden on utility customers. The council did not provide additional details on individual customer impacts beyond the per-user surcharge amount stated.