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Council adopts new bond estimate cost basis after developer outreach; some worry higher numbers will raise development costs
Summary
City engineer reported outreach and a proposed update to the bond estimate unit prices that would raise many line items (presented range 130%–160% increases in places) to reflect current construction market rates; council adopted the new cost basis but discussed potential effects on housing affordability.
Matthew Houston, city engineer, returned to council with a draft bond estimate tool after expanded outreach to the development community and neighboring jurisdictions. He said staff expanded the outreach list and received feedback that generally supported updated unit prices and that many peer jurisdictions are updating their cost bases as well.
Houston explained the rationale and tradeoffs: maintaining a fixed list of unit prices provides consistent, transparent bond calculations for all projects but risks becoming outdated. He said the updated spreadsheet applies a range of increases (he cited a 130% to 160% range on some items) based on recent city costs and CPI adjustments; test cases showed substantial increases in some bond amounts for projects already under bond.
Council members acknowledged the need to modernize estimates but raised concerns these higher bond values could add to development costs. Houston suggested grandfathering existing bonds and applying new cost bases to permits and bonds issued after an implementation date. After discussion the council voted to adopt the updated cost basis tool.
