Fremont council authorizes up to $14.5 million in bonds to finish police headquarters, 911 center

The Fremont City Council voted unanimously June 9 to authorize municipal improvement bonds not to exceed $14.5 million to complete construction of a police headquarters and a Fremont-Dodge County 911 communications center.

City administrator Jody Sanders told the council the proposal would not require a public referendum and that the city plans to pledge portions of existing sales-tax receipts dedicated to public safety to repay the bonds. Scott Keane of Piper Sandler, the city’s financial advisor, presented terms included in the ordinance: a not-to-exceed principal amount of $14.5 million, a not-to-exceed true interest cost of 5% and a maximum final maturity of 25 years. Keane said market conditions likely would allow a smaller issue to generate approximately $14 million for construction, with an expected interest cost around 3.94% in today’s market.

Keane said annual debt-service payments under current assumptions would be slightly more than $1 million per year, while the public-safety share of related sales-tax collections last year was just under $2.6 million. “We would expect that these bonds will have a similar rating to past issues,” Keane said, noting prior issues received a double-A rating from Standard & Poor’s.

The council held the ordinance’s first reading, then voted to suspend rules and adopt on final reading; the ordinance passed 8–0. City staff said, if approved, staff would move to initiate the rating process and schedule a competitive sale in mid-July with delivery of proceeds expected in early August.

The ordinance authorizes staff to finalize sale documents, appoint a paying agent and apply pledged sales-tax revenues as described in the ordinance. No additional local tax referendum is required because the pledge is drawn from existing dedicated sales-tax receipts.