Finance director proposes $22 million parameter borrowing to finish police facility, seeks flexibility on sale date

Finance Director presented the city’s May financial update and told the Finance Committee he expects to borrow “in the $22,000,000 range” in 2026 to fund capital needs, including completion of a new police facility.

The parameter sale proposal would let council set borrowing guardrails—total amount and interest limits—at one meeting while allowing staff and advisors to execute the actual sale later if market conditions change. “The benefit of this parameter sale is it’s, 1 less kind of meeting where you have to approve something, but it also gives us flexibility,” the Finance Director said. He said staff will continue to report the final sale day results to both the finance committee and council, including bids received and final rates.

Committee members pressed staff on timing and market risk; one member likened timing the sale to choosing a day to buy plane tickets. The Finance Director said municipalities often are locked into specific meeting days that can concentrate sales on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and make the market less competitive, and that the parameter approach would allow staff to pull back if rates were unfavorable. He also explained that the city has shifted to issuing notes instead of bonds for flexibility and noted state law now allows notes to be issued up to 20 years.

On planned uses, he said “by far, the biggest is the police facility,” estimating about $20 million is needed to complete that project, with the remaining borrowing allocated to a kids-crossing playground, City Hall campus remodel design work, and the Fitzhrona road reconstruction or related land acquisition. The committee voiced general support for the approach and did not take formal action on the debt parameters at the meeting.

What’s next: staff said they will return with the official resolution to set parameters and will report back after any sale with full details of bids and rates.