08-23-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Given the budgetary impacts for essential services listed above, a preliminary operating levy increase of $296,291 leaves little capacity for additional initiatives and proactive planning efforts. One of the primary strategic initiatives included in the 2022 Strategic Plan is Maximizing our Assets to Catalyze Development. The City Council has expressed a strong interest to continuously keep the community vital and a great place to live. Efforts in development, redevelopment, housing, and additional amenities help keep the City economically healthy and attractive. Ongoing strategic initiatives include replacing blight with development, increasing housing opportunities, and adding public amenities. In order to further these proactive planning efforts, the Council directed staff to bring forward a preliminary levy not to exceed a 10% increase from prior year. After considering several options, staff is recommending an increase of $100,000 to the operating levy to be allocated to the General Capital Improvement Fund (Fund 400). This additional funding could be designated exclusively towards the planning, construction, or future debt service related to a public amenity such as a future community gathering space. An increase of $100,000 to the operating levy would increase the preliminary levy to a 9.90% increase over the 2023 adopted levy. A new public gathering space for the residents of Little Canada has been a topic that current and previous City Council have explored for several years. The 2022 Strategic Plan includes a strategic goal of acquiring the property at 2884 Centerville Road as a potential location for this facility, and staff has included $2.5 million as the estimated construction cost for a new community building in the 2024 Capital Improvement Plan. A dedicated source of funding will be needed if we are to continue to make progress toward this potential project. Based on the estimated project cost of $2.5 million, staff has obtained three debt service scenarios for a future issuance of bonds. The table below represents three different bond terms with a debt service levy as low as $200,114 for a 20-year repayment schedule and as high as $327,977 for a 10-year repayment schedule. Please note that total interest paid on the bonds differs based on repayment terms. The longer the City takes to repay the loan, the more total interest will be paid. Even though the $100,000 is not sufficient to fund a possible future debt service payment, it estimated to be approximately 42% of a 15-year debt service levy for a 2.5 Million debt issuance.