Highfill refunds bonds for huge savings

HIGHFILL -- In a somewhat unusual meeting on March 10, Highfill's city council, after a public hearing, adopted an ordinance and emergency clause which will save the city more than $900,000 by refunding five of the city's six bonds for water and sewer systems.

With only three of the city's six council members present, the council would have been unable to suspend the rules and pass the bond refunding ordinance on three readings with a single vote and lock in a low interest rate and save the city close to a million dollars over the terms of the bond, but Toby Lester, even though he was busy removing a dead farm animal from a neighboring property, came in for a few minutes to vote and save the city thousands.

David Williamson, Roger Hill, Paula Pautski and Lester passed the ordinance and the emergency clause to lock in the low rate, increasing savings to the city from an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 to $907,000 over the course of the bond repayment.

The bond ordinance passed refunds five of the city's six bonds, or a total of approximately $4.5 million in debt and lowers the interest rate to under 4 percent. Refunded will be two USDA bonds and three through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. One of the six bonds -- through ANRC -- was not eligible for refunding.

According to Bob Wright of Crews and Associates in Fayetteville, the bond interest rate locked by the council's vote on March 10 is 3.28 percent. Actual cost of the refinancing, including all costs, raises that cost to 3.56 percent. The bonds are scheduled to be paid off by 2036.

Not only does the bond refunding save the city money, it also puts it in a better position should another issue come up in the future which would require another bond.

In a separate but somewhat related issue, the city, after a public hearing on the matter, adopted a resolution authorizing the mayor to apply for a wastewater improvement grant under the Arkansas Community and Economic Development Program to expand the city's sewer system to take in another 20 customers -- estimated to double or triple the current customer base.

The grant application will be for $500,000 in non-matching funds; but the project will be split in two parts, Line A for $75,000 and Lines B and C for $425,000, so that the city could complete at least part of the proposed expansion if the city does not receive the full amount of the grant request.

Cassie Elliott, grant writer for the city, said the city stood a good chance of being awarded the grant because of the percentage of Highfill residents classified as having low to moderate income. She said, if the city did not receive the grant this cycle, it could re-apply again next year.

Part of the reason the city is applying for the grant is to provide sewer services to the Highfill Baptist Church and others with failed or failing septic systems.

In other business, the city passed three resolutions required when applying for the community grant -- establishing a residential anti-displacement and relocation assistance plan, establishing a policy prohibiting the use of excessive force by law-enforcement agencies within the city against individuals engaged in non-violent civil rights demonstrations, and establishing a fair housing plan.

The council also passed a resolution authorizing the transfer of excess sales tax revenue from the water improvement fund to the general fund and approved the February financial report.

General News on 03/18/2015