Polk City Council approves $5.305 million urban renewal bonds to fund park and street projects

Polk City’s council approved a resolution awarding General Obligation Urban Renewal Bonds Series 2025A at a special meeting, authorizing $5.305 million in par bonds after bids were received this morning.

Carrie of municipal advisory firm PFM reported the sale attracted seven bids from about 33 banks and said Moody’s assigned an Aa2 rating to the issue. She said Piper Sandler submitted the winning bid with a true interest cost of 3.639% and that the cover bid from Northland had a TIC of 3.6498%, a very narrow spread.

PFM told the council the bonds were resized after receipt of a premium, reducing aggregate par from $5.635 million to $5.305 million. The presenter said the plan of finance was about $1.1 million lower than earlier projections and that annual debt service is roughly $55,000 lower than originally estimated. PFM also said the bonds are expected to be repaid from tax increment financing (TIF) revenues and "don’t really put any additional property tax burden onto the citizens."

Council members pressed staff on timing and process. Staff said the special meeting was called because the Des Moines Register missed the publication deadline for the item originally scheduled for the Oct. 27 meeting; the city updated the preliminary official statement and re-noticed the action for this special meeting. Staff confirmed council authorization is expected to be reflected on Nov. 10 and that the bonds will close and wire proceeds on Nov. 25, with the city’s procurement team planning to advertise project bids in early 2026.

The council and staff discussed how proceeds will be used. City staff and the municipal advisor said project funds — roughly $5.5 million in project proceeds — were allocated to a regional park project (approximately $4 million) and a street project (approximately $2 million) as not-to-exceed amounts. Staff explained that, because prior council action consolidated loan agreements, proceeds will likely arrive as a single lump sum, but any reallocation beyond the stated corporate purposes or above the not-to-exceed amounts would require a subsequent public hearing.

One council member said they were comfortable with the park redesign but remained concerned about the road allocation and said they were "inclined to vote no" unless the council revisited allocation priorities; staff responded that the council could hold another hearing to change authorized uses if it chose. The council then moved, seconded and adopted the resolution by roll-call vote: Bogle, Otis (appears earlier in the transcript as "Botus"), Serette, Savage and Walters voted yes.

The resolution awards the Series 2025A bonds as described; staff will complete closing actions in late November and proceed with project bidding and design in 2026. The council adjourned and set the next meeting for Nov. 10.