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Freeport council authorizes mayor to sign SRF-submission resolution contingent on SRF approval
Summary
Council approved submitting a revised utility-rate resolution to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) contingent on SRF comments and authorized the mayor to sign the resolution upon SRF acceptance, with council ratification later; members debated inclusion of SRF's debt-service language.
Council members on Sept. 9 authorized the mayor to sign a revised utility-rate resolution for submission to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) provided SRF approves the language, and the council will ratify the action at a subsequent meeting.
Engineering staff said SRF suggested language referencing debt-service coverage and a 1.15 ratio; council members expressed concern about committing to fixed, binding debt-service language in a resolution that could be difficult to amend. "I expressed my concern for the inclusion of any of this," one council member said, describing a preference to avoid embedding a fixed debt-service formula into a permanent resolution.
Staff said the city needs a rate resolution for the SRF application and that delaying could jeopardize access to lower-cost financing. To balance timeliness with oversight, the council approved submitting the resolution contingent on SRF comments and authorized the mayor to execute it upon SRF approval, with subsequent council ratification for sunshine-law purposes.
The transcript did not include a roll-call tally. Staff said existing rates adopted at a prior meeting would cover the immediate fiscal needs while the SRF review proceeds.
