title
Introduction of Bond Orders for November 2024 Referendum.
body
|
Staff: |
Department: |
|
Amy Oland, Director |
Business Management Department |
Overview: The Town is pursuing a referendum for general obligation bonds for affordable housing, public facilities, streets & sidewalks, parks and recreation facilities, and open space/greenways for the November 2024 ballot.
|
|
Recommendation(s): |
That the Council:
• That the Mayor or a member of the Council introduce individually each of the bond orders for the November 2024 General Obligation (G.O.) Bond Referendum. To “introduce” the bond order, the title of each bond order should be read, it should be stated that the bond order is being introduced, and that the bond order will return for a final action at a subsequent meeting.
• That the Council adopt the resolution setting a public hearing on each bond order for June 17, 2024 and authorize the filing of a sworn statement of debt by the Town’s Finance Officer.
Explanation of Referendum Process
• The State of North Carolina requires public approval for the issuance of most municipal general obligation (GO) bonds. Public approval is gained through a public vote or referendum. Referendum questions for municipal GO debt must be broken out into bond orders that authorize issuance of bonds for a particular purpose. Each bond order is voted on individually. The amount of a bond order is the maximum amount that can be borrowed.
• In collaboration with the Town’s financial advisors, Town staff determined that the amount of available debt capacity over the next 5 years, without the need for a property tax increase, after the June 2024 installment financing, is $44 million.
• To determine the make-up of the bond orders and amounts proposed for the referendum, we asked departments to provide their top three capital project requests that supported Everywhere to Everywhere, the Affordable Housing Plan, and other Town master plans, Council goals, and community interests.
• After several planning sessions with Council, we propose the following bond orders and amounts:
|
BOND ORDER |
AMOUNT |
|
Affordable Housing |
$ 15.0 million |
|
Public Facilities |
15.0 million |
|
Streets & Sidewalks |
7.5 million |
|
Parks & Recreation Facilities |
4.5 million |
|
Open Space/Greenways |
2.0 million |
|
Total |
$ 44.0 million |
• On May 15, 2024, the Council adopted the Preliminary Findings Resolution for the November 2024 G.O. Bond Referendum. The Preliminary Resolution, among other things, established the Council’s intent to proceed with a referendum in November 2024 to authorize the issuance of general obligations for the uses and amounts shown above. The resolution also authorized Town staff to proceed with the steps necessary to authorize the resolution.
• State statutes require that bond orders come before the Council on two separate occasions. The first occasion is to “introduce the bond orders” and the second is for final action. Tonight is the introduction of the bond orders.
• Additional actions needed to hold a G.O. Bond Referendum in November 2024 include setting a public hearing on each bond order and filing a sworn statement of debt. The attached resolution sets the public hearing for June 17, 2024 and authorizes the Finance Officer to file a sworn statement of debt.
Explanation of Timeline
• The actions needed to hold a general obligation bond referendum on November 5, 2024, include:
o Publish notice of intent to file application with the Local Government Commission (LGC) (Complete)
o Make Legislative Committee filing (Complete)
o File LGC application (In progress)
o Council introduces bond orders, schedules public hearing, and authorizes debt statement (6/5/24 Council meeting)
o Publish notice of public hearing (staff action - required to be published 10 days before public hearing is held)
o Council holds public hearing; adopts bond orders and sets ballot questions and referendum date (6/17/24 council meeting)
o Publish bond orders and notice of referendum (twice)
o Bond referendum (11/5/24 election)
Fiscal Impact
• The Town will replay the proposed general obligation bonds from the Town’s Debt Management Fund. Staff calculated the amount of available debt capacity to be $44 million over the next five or six years.
• The Town will not require a property tax increase to carry out the projects tied to the bond referendum.
• It is most likely that the bonds will be issued in three installments separated by two to three years each, as various projects move through the planning and design phases at different times and as our capacity to pay back the debt builds up over that time frame.
Where is this item in its process?
|
|
Attachments: |
|
|
• Resolution Setting a Public Hearing and Authorizing the Filing of a Debt Statement |
|
|
• Bond Orders for Introduction |
|
|
• Draft Staff Presentation |
A RESOLUTION SETTING THE PUBLIC HEARING AND AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF DEBT STATEMENTS FOR THE 2024 REFERENDUM ON CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS (2024-06-05/R-6)
WHEREAS, there have been introduced at this meeting bond orders entitled as follows:
BOND ORDER AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR HOUSING FOR PERSONS OF LOW AND MODERATE INCOME IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $15,000,000, SUBJECT TO VOTER APPROVAL
BOND ORDER AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION PUBLIC BUILDING BONDS IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $15,000,000, SUBJECT TO VOTER APPROVAL
BOND ORDER AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR STREETS AND SIDEWALKS IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $7,500,000, SUBJECT TO VOTER APPROVAL
BOND ORDER AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR PARKS AND RECREATION FACILITIES IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $4,500,000, SUBJECT TO VOTER APPROVAL
BOND ORDER AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR OPEN SPACE AND GREENWAYS IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000,000, SUBJECT TO VOTER APPROVAL
AND WHEREAS, Section 159-57 of the General Statutes requires that a public hearing be held on each bond order prior to its adoption, Section 159-56 of the General Statutes requires publication of a notice of the hearing, and Sections 159-55 and 159-55.1 of the General Statutes requires the filing of statements of debt and estimated interest and other required disclosures prior to the public hearing;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1) that a public hearing on each bond order will be held at 6:00 p.m. (or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard) on June 17, 2024, in the Council’s regular meeting room, Council Chamber, Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr., Boulevard, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, and (2) that the Town Clerk is directed to publish a notice of each public hearing, in the form provided for in Section 159-56 of the General Statutes, one time, not less than six days prior to the hearing date, in a newspaper having general circulation in the Town;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town’s Finance Officer is directed to prepare and file, prior to the publication of the notice of public hearing, a sworn statement of the Town’s net debt and a statement of estimated interest and other required disclosures in the forms prescribed by statute.
This the 5th day of June, 2024.
end
|
The Agenda will reflect the text below and/or the motion text will be used during the meeting. |
presenter
PRESENTER: Amy Oland, Business Management Director
RECOMMENDATION: (1) That the Mayor or a member of the Council introduce individually each of the bond orders for the November 2024 General Obligation (G.O.) Bond Referendum. To “introduce” the bond order, the title of each bond order should be read, it should be stated that the bond order is being introduced, and that the bond order return for a final action at a subsequent meeting.
(2) That the Council adopt the resolution setting a public hearing on each bond order for June 17, 2024 and authorize the filing of a sworn statement of debt by the Town’s Finance Officer.