Plan A: Pay as you go, use available T.I.F. and EDIT funds (not completely drain these funds) to cut down on debt and pave the streets over time, approximately 3 years.Feel free to discuss.
or
Plan B: Obtain a draw bond (similar to a line of credit) and pave as many streets as possible in as short of time as possible.Either way, the streets need to be paved as we all know.
Additionally lower fuel prices mean lower prices to blacktop the streets so time is of the essence.
New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Open thread: City council work session on paving options.
For a summary of last evening's council work session, visit Mrs. Baird's blog: "LET'S PAVE SOME ROADS".
Several questions which may or may not have been answered last night:
ReplyDelete*How much would annual payments on a $10 million bond be and for how long? Can other bonds possibly be refinanced along with it to get a lower interest rate?
*How much of the TIF balances are already allocated to other projects?
We go through this all the time, with Coffey being the worst offender. He complains about the balances. He's reminded of the projects already in the pipeline that those balances will be used to fund and asked which ones he wants to kill to use the money for something else. He shuts up- until the next time he brings up the same topic as if the discussion hasn't already taken place.
*How much of our annual EDIT intake is currently unencumbered?
* How much paving gets done over the proposed three year EDIT/TIF plan? If they're serious about not depleting the funds, I'm assuming it's quite a bit less than $10 million worth.
* Has anyone on the Council had the gumption to suggest removing the EDIT subsidy from the sewers?
While these guys bicker, we still have over $9 million in EDIT funds pledged to a sewer subsidy that has city residents paying the sewer bills of non-residents, hotels, car washes, and large industrial sites using our system.
Bluegill, I hope you'll plan to speak these words at Monday's council meeting.
ReplyDeleteWere those topics not covered at the work session?
ReplyDeleteBookseller,
ReplyDeleteI read that you were at the meeting. What was your take, in general?
Yes, bluegill, they were raised. The short answer is that perhaps tens of thousands could be extracted if we wanted to zero out the TIF balances. The millions claimed by the council contingent are monies already encumbered for infrastructure direct investment and for leveraging to federal matching dollars. Some of that includes paving.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. I can't find the words to describe last night's meeting and my impressions.
I know what you mean. I had to take a break in the middle of the last Council meeting to try to reestablish some sort of connection with intellectual reality.
ReplyDeleteHas the administration ever presented an actual plan to pave the streets? I mean, on the record.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they have and I have missed it. Entirely possible. I am more than willing to be educated.
So I see, by reading the Tribune's coverage of last night's session, that the administration still has not went on record with their plan.
ReplyDeleteAny of you old enough to remember Nixon running for President saying that he had a secret plan for ending the Viet Nam war? Remember how that worked out?
For the record. I'm not for or against the administration. I'm not for or against the Council. I'm for better government in New Albany and that concerns both branches.