Rexburg CFO outlines fiscal year-end moves and next steps on police facility planning

Rexburg's chief financial officer, Matt Nielsen, told the City Council the city is adjusting its investment posture at fiscal year end and preparing next steps for a potential police facility. Nielsen said the city will reinvest funds from a roughly $4.2 million diversified bond position into a ladder of certificates and managed accounts, and forecasted a multi‑month drawdown in cash and investments through the winter months before inflows pick up in January.

Nielsen also reported reserves across enterprise funds — sanitation, water and wastewater — and noted a $1.1 million purchase order for a new shop will draw from the sanitation reserve. He said the city has about $1.7 million reserved for a new City Hall/police building and described work on a draft RFQ to select a construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) to develop cost estimates and delivery approaches. "We're trying to lay that out right now...to get a contract where we could obtain what it is that we'd be building, what it would look like, how much it would cost," Nielsen said.

Council members asked about timelines for a potential bond election and the council's role. Nielsen said the earliest realistic election dates would be either November 2025 or May 2026, depending on schedule and notification requirements to the county clerk. Council discussed forming a small CMGC-selection committee (two or three council members plus the mayor and staff) to keep quorum issues manageable; Chief Rhodes was named as likely committee participant.

Council and staff agreed to examine both remodel and new-construction options when asking CMGCs for numbers so the public can compare alternatives. The council did not take a final decision on a bond or project size; staff said additional steps (CMGC selection, negotiated contract, timeline) would precede any formal ballot question.