Jackson awards $1.298 million street contract and moves to sell $2.005 million in bonds to fund work

Jackson’s City Council on April 21 awarded the low bid of $1,298,841 to Svoboda Excavating for the 2026 Street and Utility Improvement Project and approved related construction administration and financing steps to pay for the work.

HDR Transportation Project Manager Paul Sanow told the Council the project’s major street reconstruction will be on Maple Street with surfacing and spot curb repairs on Linda, Merva and Becky. Sanow said four bids were received March 24, three under and one over the engineer’s estimate, and that the principal reason the low bid was substantially below the estimate was a lower mobilization cost. Sanow said he anticipates contractor mobilization in June and a substantial completion date in October, with some warranty follow-up possible in 2027. "It's anticipated construction will take approximately five months," Sanow said.

Finance adviser Shannon Sweeney of David Drown Associates outlined a financing plan the Council authorized to pursue. Sweeney presented an estimated total project cost of $2,012,639.24 and recommended issuing $2,005,000 in General Obligation bonds structured over 20 years. He said he used a conservative interest-rate assumption of 4.23% for planning and estimated annual debt service near $157,000. "It's expected that the City will maintain their credit rating at A-plus, and that will garner an interest rate that's probably half to three-quarters of a percent less," Sweeney said, describing the planned purchase of a Standard & Poor's credit rating and the competitive sale process scheduled for May 19.

Sweeney projected the tax-levy impact attributable to street debt at roughly $91,000 per year, which he described as approximately a 4.55% increase to the city's levy based on the 2025 levy base. He identified potential offsets that could reduce levy pressure, including the final AGCO tax-abatement levy collection expected to end in 2027 (about $48,000 in City tax), the payoff of the 2013B General Obligation Bonds (final levy of about $25,000 in 2028), and tax-capacity released by decertifying certain TIF districts (an estimated $87,000 in City property tax capacity). Sweeney said water revenues may require a roughly 5% rate increase and sewer revenues about 4% in future updates, but said the Sewer Fund currently holds sufficient cash to phase those adjustments.

The Council unanimously approved the construction-administration scope and fees with HDR (time-and-materials inspection, staking and project management) and, separately, unanimously approved a resolution (No. 11-0426) authorizing David Drown Associates to proceed with the bond sale process. The Council also set a public hearing on the tax abatement tied to the bonds for May 19, 2026; if the sale is awarded that day, Sweeney said the closing would be about June 1 so funds are available as contractor invoices arrive.

Votes recorded in the minutes were unanimous on the contract award, the HDR agreement and the bond-resolution and abatement-hearing actions. The contract award motion was recorded as moved by Nathan Peterson and seconded by Mike Schwartz; the HDR scope and fee motion was recorded as moved by Nathan Peterson and seconded by Joe Pell; the bond resolution was recorded as moved by Mark Titus and seconded by Joe Pell; and the abatement hearing was set on a motion recorded as moved by Joe Pell and seconded by John Weland.

Next steps: the City will publish the required public-hearing notice with parcel listings for the May 19 abatement hearing; bids for the bonds will be opened May 19 and presented to the Council that evening; and, if awarded, the bond closing is expected around June 1 to fund contractor payments as construction proceeds.