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Peekskill council approves bond authorization for Momentum projects after public questions about $15.9M garage estimate
Summary
Council authorized up to $20 million in bonds for Momentum Grant projects after residents pressed staff on a $15.9 million parking-garage estimate, timing of debt service and missing financial statements; one councilmember voted no on the bond measure.
The Common Council of the City of Peekskill voted to authorize the issuance of up to $20,000,000 in serial bonds to finance Momentum Grant projects, a package of downtown and riverfront development investments that includes extensive work on parking garages.
During the public-comment period, resident Jen Zawake asked how the city had determined a $15,900,000 cost for repairs and reconstruction of parking garages. "Since we haven't gone out to bid on these projects, I was curious how it's been decided, specifically that the repairs and construction repairs to and construction of the parking garages is gonna cost 15,900,000," Zawake said. City staff responded that "we had 2 professional firms come to us with estimates and then another firm look at it" and that those are updated, current-year estimates.
Another resident, Garrett Dowd, pressed the council on financial transparency and the city's exposure if Momentum reimbursements do not materialize: "we haven't been publishing financial statements or comprehensive annual financial statements since 2021," he said, and warned the city could be "on the hook for 10,000,000 20,000,000" if reimbursement conditions were not met. City staff said they would post missing statements (they could confirm files through 2023 were available and were completing 2024) and emphasized the project would be implemented in phases so the city would not take on full debt before housing and reimbursement milestones were met.
The bond authorization (Resolution J6) passed by majority vote; Councilman Fernandez cast the only recorded "No". The clerk conducted a roll call showing the measure carried by majority vote.
The council and staff said large-ticket work such as garage construction would not begin until the city was confident the housing pipeline and reimbursement structure would offset the costs and that the city would use parking-in-lieu fees and other offsets where timing permitted. Staff also said they would walk any interested resident through the budget spreadsheets presented to the committee earlier this month. The authorization allows the city to move forward with financing but does not itself obligate immediate construction.
