Fredericksburg City Council voted Tuesday night to approve on first read the issuance of general obligation bonds up to $35 million related to a number of projects included in the city’s Comprehensive Improvement Plan.
General obligation bonds offer local governments the flexibility to repay bonds with tax revenue from a variety of sources, as opposed to only that revenue generated by a specific project.
City Finance Director Robyn Shugart said the bonds will cover projects including the city’s portion of the Motts Run water treatment project, which it shares with Spotsylvania County, sanitary sewer interceptors, a pair of pedestrian bridges spanning the Rappahannock Canal and two pumping fire engines.
The Motts Run project comprises the largest chunk of the bonds, with an estimated debt issuance of $28.5 million, Shugart said. Work on the Mott’s Run project should be completed by 2027 and will double the facility’s overall capacity from 12 to 24 million gallons per day (MGD). The city’s share will increase from 5 to 7 MGD.
Councilor Jason Graham (Ward 1) asked Shugart if it is a requirement for the water and sewer projects to be paid for entirely through water and sewer fees.
“That’s definitely a best practice and the recommendation from any financial professional,” Shugart said.
The pedestrian bridges comprise $1.5 million of debt issuance, while the two fire engines will cost $2.6 million.
No one spoke at the associated public hearing following Shugart’s presentation, and Mayor Kerry Devine closed the public hearing prior to a unanimous roll call vote in favor of issuing the bonds.
In other business, councilors voted 7-0 to approve on first read the 2023-24 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) for submittal to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Community Planner Bailey Thompson said the public outreach process for this year’s CAPER involved sending roughly 60 mailers to neighborhood groups, civic associations and other stakeholders.
Thompson explained that the city received $201,420 in the form of Community Development Block Grants from HUD and spent $287,961, a total that included rollover from previous years’ grants.
The grants went toward housing rehabilitation assistance for five dwellings, removal of architectural barriers for seven properties and engineering work for a traffic calming and pedestrian mobility project in the Mayfield neighborhood among other initiatives, Thompson said.
The grants “impacted in a really positive way almost 1,500 people,” Devine said. “People being able to stay in their homes, the real needs that people have.”
