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Public Hearing on Bond Orders for November 2024 Referendum and Approval of Bond Orders, Ballot Questions, and Referendum Details.
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Staff: |
Department: |
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Amy Oland, Director |
Business Management |
Overview: The Town is pursuing a referendum for general obligation bonds for affordable housing, public buildings, streets and sidewalks, parks and recreation facilities, and open space and greenways for the November 2024 ballot.
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Recommendation(s): |
That the Council:
• Conduct a public hearing on the bond orders proposed for the November 5, 2024 Referendum.
• Adopt each of the attached bond orders by separate vote.
• Adopt the resolution regarding publication of the bond orders and details of the bond referendum.
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 five 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:
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BOND ORDER |
AMOUNT |
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Affordable Housing |
$ 15.0 million |
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Public Facilities |
15.0 million |
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Streets & Sidewalks |
7.5 million |
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Parks & Recreation Facilities |
4.5 million |
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Open Space/Greenways |
2.0 million |
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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.
• On June 5, 2024, the Council introduced each of the bond orders proposed for the November 5, 2024 referendum and the Council adopted the resolution setting a public hearing on each bond order for June 17, 2024 and authorizing the filing of a sworn statement of debt by the Town’s Finance Officer.
• Tonight, we will hold the public hearing and ask Council to adopt each of the bond orders by a separate vote and adopt the resolution regarding the publication of the bond orders and details of the bond referendum.
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 (Complete)
o Council introduces bond orders, schedules public hearing, and authorizes debt statement (Complete)
o Publish notice of public hearing (Complete)
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)
Ballot Questions
• Council may change the order of the questions on the ballot in the upcoming election by expressing a preference for a specific ballot question order at tonight’s meeting.
• In the attached Resolution Regarding Publication of Bond Orders section 4 of the Resolution would confirm that the order for the questions to appear on the ballot is as follows:
o Affordable Housing
o Public Buildings
o Streets and Sidewalks
o Parks and Recreation Facilities
o Open Space and Greenways
Fiscal Impact/Resources:
• 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?
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Attachments: |
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• Proposed Bond Orders for Adoption |
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• Resolution Approving Referendum Details |
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• Draft Sworn Statement of Debt |
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• Draft Statement of Estimated Interest |
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• Draft Staff Presentation |
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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: That the Council (1) Conduct a public hearing on the bond orders proposed for the November 5, 2024 Referendum, (2) Adopt each of the attached bond orders by separate vote, and (3) Adopt the resolution regarding publication of the bond orders and details of the bond referendum.