Port Edwards committee authorizes borrowing from water utility to finish 2nd Street, certifies potential grant match

The Port Edwards finance committee voted to authorize the village’s tax incremental district to borrow from the municipal water utility to finish the 2nd Street reconstruction and approved Resolution 226-06 to certify the village could provide a 10% match if awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the project.

Ben (administrator) told the committee that the TIF for the project runs through 2029 and that the project had originally been planned in three annual phases. He said unanticipated issues with water and sewer pipes made completing the work this year preferable to piecemeal temporary repairs. “We had to have everything documented,” he said, and described the auditor’s recommendation to use a resolution to authorize the borrowing.

Ben described the water utility reserve as “between 800 to 1000000, give or take,” and said, “Right now, the balance is 845.” He proposed the utility lend the funds and be repaid from guaranteed future TIF receipts over the next two years with interest collected on the loan.

A committee member questioned whether drawing the reserve down would leave enough for catastrophic repairs. “So with you drop drawing the reserve fund down slightly, do you still have enough in there to cover anything catastrophic during the course of those payments?” they asked. Ben replied that recent well rehabilitation and a tower inspection reduced the likelihood of an immediate emergency and that he did not expect the reserves to be drawn to zero.

The committee voted and the motion to authorize borrowing from the water utility passed.

On a related item, the committee considered Resolution 226-06 to certify matching funds for a CDBG application due in May. Ben said CDBG typically operates on a 90%/10% award-to-match basis, that final engineering numbers were not yet fixed, and that the whole project was “over 1,000,000 and a half” in rough terms. He noted a working local-match estimate of “466,” and cautioned that figure could change as final design work is completed. He also said the village has discussed bank financing and is evaluating DNR loan options that may carry lower interest.

Committee members agreed the certification was necessary for the application; the committee approved Resolution 226-06 and Ben said that if the grant is awarded in July he would return to the board with full documents to accept the award and finalize the matching-fund commitments.

Next steps: if the grant award comes through, the board will vote to accept the grant and the village will finalize the financing plan; otherwise, the village has described local-bank and DNR loan options as contingencies.