Municipal advisers tell Ross council: large facilities projects likely require voter-approved revenue

Municipal-adviser team Fieldman Rollup (Anju Reardon and Dan Shaw) presented an analysis of the town's revenue profile and bond financing options and concluded that Ross has limited capacity to carry significant new debt without dedicated new revenue. Reardon summarized the revenue mix (about 85% property tax, 13% Measure E parcel tax and the remainder from minor sources) and noted that, on the town's adopted FY'''26 budget, general-fund revenue is about $11.2 million. Using a Standard & Poor's guideline that debt service should be roughly 6''' 8% of general revenues, Fieldman showed that annual debt service capacity under current conditions is approximately $670,000'''$890,000, and hypothetical bond issues scale quickly: a $10M bond could cost ~ $650,000/year in debt service, $20M ~ $1.3M/year and $30M ~ $1.9M/year.

They presented three voter-revenue vehicles (general-obligation bonds, parcel taxes, CFDs/Mello-Roos) and one non-voter path (lease revenue or COPs backed by the general fund), walking through trade-offs: GO bonds are lowest cost but require two-thirds voter approval and can fund only capital; parcel taxes and CFDs can fund operations but require two-thirds approval (CFDs can be structured more flexibly); lease-backed financings do not require a ballot measure but create general-fund obligations. For a lease-backed option, Fieldman's modeling showed parcel-tax levels would be very high to repay large issuances (e.g., roughly $777/parcel for $10M lease-issued scenario, scaling higher for larger amounts). The advisers recommended that any large financing plan be paired with a clear revenue pledge and substantial public outreach, noting that the town's current fiscal trajectory (expenses projected to grow faster than revenues) reduces capacity going forward.