Thursday, December 13, 2007
Valley city council tables bond vote
What people know as “fast time,“ or the difference between Central and Eastern times, has slowed for two weeks the city’s bond financial proposal of up to $11.3 million.
November 13, 2007
VALLEY - What people know as “fast time,“ or the difference between Central and Eastern times, has slowed for two weeks the city’s bond financial proposal of up to $11.3 million.
The Valley City Council tabled its vote for two weeks Monday night on the bond financial proposal because the legal advertisement included the time of 6 p.m. for a public hearing on the proposal and not the actual 7 p.m. meeting time.
The council held a second public hearing before its regular meeting Monday, but got no questions or comments, for or against, on the financial proposal. Citizens will have another chance for questions or comments at a third public hearing at 7 p.m. EST Nov. 26 before the council votes on the proposal.
“I am a person that is in a hurry, but my better judgement makes me not be in cases that are legal,“ Valley Mayor Arnold Leak said after the meeting. “Even though it seems trivial, it gives us a little bit more time to look at the details and see if there is anything else in there that may have been missed.
“So, not only are we going to be able to get the time right, we are going to have another public hearing,“ he said. “We had no questions or comments tonight, which I was extremely surprised about.
“We will take two more weeks, but in the scheme of 30 years that is not much time.“
The city’s financial proposal is being proposed in order to pay for the costs of infrastructure improvements in the city.
Before the first public hearing last Friday, “We intend to borrow about a little bit less than $6 million, but the $11.3 million figure was used so our financial people could clear that line of credit which would be our max of what we could borrow.“
Leak said the industrial improvement areas are special laws within the state that allow cities and developers to recover their development costs by defining what they call an improvement district.
“An improvement district has a border around it,“ Leak said. “The new developments are included in that border. Only the new development within that border may recover some of its development costs by charging extra fees, or taxes, to those who use the new development.
“We have an area that is in and around what we call our Sportsplex. There will be about 800 units, a major-name grocery store and a number of other stores, as many as 15 different stores, over a period of time.
“We expect all that growth to happen within the next two years,“ the mayor said.
Leak said those stores and the apartments in the improvement district are allowed to collect an extra fee to be paid against the development costs.
“These fees will not be collected anywhere else in the city,“ he said.
He used the example of paying a 9 percent sales tax in the city versus paying 10 percent at a new store in the improvement district.
“The extra percent pays off the borrowed money for the developer,“ Leak said. “The City of Valley will dedicate a portion of its normal money from that new money to pay off its development costs.“
While the city plans to borrow under $6 million, the general obligation warrants being considered are for an amount of up to $11,305,000 with a final maturity date of not later than Dec. 31, 2038.
The proposed warrants are to cover costs relating to the project and the issuance of the warrants. Those costs include:
- road improvements within the city,
- relocation utilities in and around the entrance/exit and where the ITC Venue Project is to be located,
- relocation of roadways which will provide entry and exit to the ITC Venue Project,
- road construction to be undertaken along and around the ITC Venue Project,
- extend the portion of Fairfax Bypass from Fob James Drive to Hughley Drive into five lanes,
- infrastructure and improvements to be constructed in and around the ITC Venue Project, and
- construction and installation of new traffic lights in the surrounding area.
The Valley City Council meets in the city hall at 20 Fob James Drive in Valley. The next regular meeting will be Monday, Nov. 26, at 6 p.m. EST. Written comments for or against the financial proposal may be mailed to Valley City Clerk Martha Cato at 20 Fob James Drive, Valley, AL 36854.
surrounding areas;