The approval of the notice of sale does not lock the city into the bonds, but initiates the process for going out for bids.
Once bids are received, city staff and council will review the best option and consider the awarding of a contract.
The details
Prior city council discussions indicated the intention to issue around $9.45 million in CO bonds, but a decision to free up savings in the Strategic Projects Fund allows the city to cash fund the two drainage projects planned for fiscal year 2025-26.
During the June 5 City Council meeting, city staff said two new water projects were added in the upcoming fiscal year, including a water line extension for Dietz Elkhorn Road and a GBRA water main extension.
The Dietz Elkhorn project would construct a new 12-inch main along around one mile of roadway. This project is cost-shared between the city and the upcoming Corley development, with the city contributing 75% of the total project cost.
The GBRA extension project will extend the existing GBRA main off Ammann Road up to the new location of the upcoming water tower and the city of Boerne’s future water plant.
Upcoming bond sales will be the second of three planned issuances, following an issuance of $3.7 million in 2024. A total issuance of $18 million was projected when the city planned water and wastewater projects. Finance Director Summer Flemming said the intention is for the city to issue additional bonds in FY 2026-27.
“We took into account the debt service payment schedules for each issuance and scheduled them out to where we could have a stable debt service fee for the residents,” Fleming said.
What it means
If approved, the bonds would be funded through the water and wastewater debt service fees.
According to agenda documents, the estimated water debt service Fee would increase from $23.85 in FY 2024-25 to $23.89 in FY 2025-26, and the estimated wastewater debt service fee would decrease from $17.03 to $16.91.
Fleming said the debt issuances planned for FY 2026-27 will have another minimal impact the the debt service fees. Fleming said the decision to split debt was done to prevent spikes in fee increases.
