Fremont council authorizes up to $14.5 million in bonds for police headquarters and 911 center

The Fremont City Council on June 9 authorized municipal improvement bonds for a new police headquarters and a Dodge County/Fremont 911 call center, approving ordinance 57-42 on final reading by an 8–0 vote.

City Administrator Jody Sanders and finance adviser Scott Keane of Piper Sandler outlined the financing plan, saying the bonds would be repaid primarily from dedicated sales-tax revenues set aside for public safety. Keane said the ordinance limits the principal to $14.5 million, a true-interest cost not to exceed 5 percent, and a final maturity of no more than 25 years. "We think that in today's market, we might be issuing something closer to $13,600,000," Keane said, noting that amount would provide roughly a $14,000,000 construction deposit under current estimates.

Keane estimated annual debt-service payments in today's market would be "a little over $1,000,000 per year," and noted the public-safety portion of the city's sales-tax collections last year totaled just under $2.6 million — a level staff said comfortably exceeds anticipated debt service. The finance team said they expect a rating similar to previous city issuances and planned a competitive sale in mid-July with delivery of proceeds in August, subject to council approvals.

Council praised the proposal as timely and necessary to update aging facilities. After receiving the required summary and holding the first reading, council suspended rules and proceeded to final reading and adoption of ordinance 57-42 by unanimous vote.

Next steps: staff will forward documents to Standard & Poor’s for rating, proceed to market if timelines hold, and return to council as required to finalize sale documents and post-issuance compliance.