Mount Clemens authorizes up to $3 million in bonds for ice arena repairs

The Mount Clemens City Commission voted Nov. 16 to adopt a bond-authorizing resolution allowing the city to issue limited tax general obligation bonds not to exceed $3,000,000 to fund repairs and improvements at the city’s ice arena and related capital projects.

Jeff Farrenoff of Miller Canfield (attorney/financial adviser) explained the bond language to the commission, saying the reference to $5,000 denominations means each maturity will be a multiple of $5,000 and that actual maturities will typically be in much larger, five- or six-figure amounts. He described how the registered owner for publicly offered bonds is often an entity recorded through the Depository Trust Company and noted the city will name a transfer agent at the time of sale (common options in Michigan include U.S. Bank, Huntington National Bank or Bank of New York).

Farrenoff characterized current interest-rate assumptions as estimates and said staff expects to wait until after the holidays to sell, with a likely market sale in January; “we are estimating a true interest cost of around 2 and a half percent,” he said, emphasizing the figure is an estimate pending bids.

Commissioners sought detail about project fund line items after one commissioner said a compressor was not visible on the project list and suggested it may have been listed as a boiler. Staff agreed to verify project item labels with the ice-arena manager.

The resolution authorizes the bond issuance and related preparations; the commission approved the motion and the mayor recorded the passage.