Castle Hills adopts reimbursement resolution to order fire truck, approves purchasing manual

The Castle Hills City Council on April 8 adopted a reimbursement resolution permitting staff to enter purchase orders for a fire truck and later reimburse the city from proceeds of a debt issuance such as a tax note or certificate of obligation.

Ryan Cunningham of Samco Capital Markets, the city's financial adviser, explained financing options and ran tax-rate-impact scenarios (examples shown in the presentation used a conservative 4.75% interest assumption). He described a seven-year tax note scenario and longer-term certificates of obligation; a seven-year tax note scenario in the handout was estimated to raise the debt service tax rate by a few cents per $100 of taxable value depending on final terms.

Councilmembers asked whether the repayment strategy could reuse debt service previously dedicated to a paid-off truck and whether the method of financing would obligate the city to a particular instrument. Cunningham said the reimbursement resolution creates flexibility to place the order now without committing to a single financing method; it does not oblige the city to issue debt.

Separately, council adopted a purchasing policies and procedures manual designed to codify procurement practices consistent with state law. The manual clarifies thresholds and competitive requirements and was presented as a housekeeping measure; council discussed the possibility of a separate 'local preference' ordinance for sourcing within the city.

Votes and next steps: The reimbursement resolution and the purchasing manual were both approved by the council; staff will return with final financing recommendations and timeline for ordering and delivery of the apparatus.