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Belgrade council authorizes $20 million water system revenue bonds
Summary
Facing debt-capacity limits, the council approved a resolution authorizing up to $20 million in water system revenue bonds (down from a proposed $30 million) to fund water storage and system improvements and preserve options for additional borrowing in 2029.
The Belgrade City Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and private negotiated sale of water system revenue bonds totaling $20 million to fund water storage and related improvements.
Finance staff told the council the original plan contemplated $30 million but recommended reducing the initial issuance to $20 million because of the city’s debt capacity. Staff said the bonds would help repay land-purchase debt and provide roughly $15 million to begin design and preconstruction work. City Manager Cardwell and finance staff explained the city expects to revisit additional borrowing in 2029 when the next rate study is complete.
City staff emphasized the resolution is intended to enable, not delay, the broader water program. Cardwell said the project will proceed slowly because large infrastructure projects take years to complete and the council will use other financing sources and the Publicly Available Engineering Report (PER) to refine next steps. “When the PER is complete…we’ll have a really good understanding of what our exact next steps are,” Cardwell said.
Councilors discussed redundancy and system capacity: staff reported recent improvements from wells 8 and 9 increased available capacity by nearly 2,000 gallons per minute combined, and that some additional drilling or interim well work could precede construction of storage tanks. The council adopted the bond authorization resolution unanimously.
Next procedural steps include completing the PER and finalizing financing terms; staff noted other funding opportunities such as SRF loans could supplement the bond proceeds.
