(KNSI) – The St. Cloud City Council Monday night, approved the sale of $16.3 million in General Obligation Bonds to fund infrastructure projects and equipment purchases across multiple departments.
The largest portion of the bonding package, $6.7 million, will finance street reconstruction projects as part of the city’s Five-Year Street Reconstruction Plan, which received public hearing approval on August 4th. Mayor Jake Anderson explained it to KNSI. “These bonding dollars were for some street reconstruction this year, like Pantown and Lincoln, and then it’ll fund some additional equipment purchases coming up here in the future.”
The largest equipment expenditure is $5.41 million, which is set aside for new public safety radios. There is also $1.2 million for IT equipment such as servers and switches, $1.21 million for snow removal equipment, $900,000 for a fire rescue pump truck, and $795,000 for additional equipment needs.
Officials say the cost of large-scale infrastructure projects is typically financed through bonds, which spread out the costs over multiple years.
Mayor Anderson was elated with the interest rate they were able to lock in. “We got a really good interest rate of under 3%, so that’s good news for taxpayers.”
The city says the favorable interest rate was due to strong market competition, with 11 bids received on the city’s bonds. The bonds will be repaid through property taxes. The city has an AA bond rating, one of the highest that can be achieved.
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