Council approves bond sale to fund road construction

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

The City of Burlington is on track for a $3.19 million general obligation bonds sale that would fund road construction and repair in the city.

Common Council members voted unanimously to take the first step in selling those bonds at the April 4 meeting, with no dissenting votes in spite of some concerns raised about the amount of debt the city is in.

Mayor Bob Miller had said last week that approval for the bond sale was crucial, as the city’s plan of putting $500,000 a year aside for road repair wasn’t getting the job done – and with interest rates low and the bidding process for construction competitive, the city would get a lot for its money.

City Administrator Kevin Lahner said Tuesday that the road repairs were basically a fact of life for the city.

“I wouldn’t categorize any of it as desperate,” Lahner said. “It’s just a fact of life that cities need to repair roads.”

The bond sale would simply allow the city to do more work, presumably for less money if bids came in as expected. The interest rates for the loans are also expected to be at or near all-time lows.

“We’ve basically taken an opportunity to condense our roadwork into two years to achieve significant savings,” Lahner said.

The bond sales are on track for either the second city council meeting in May or the first in June.

“It’s the first in a series of several steps we need to take to sell bonds,” Lahner said.

Alderman Katie Simenson raised concerns again that the city should stick with only what it could pay for, rather than go further in debt for what is essentially an investment with no return.

“If I find I’m in over my head, I can sell that item,” said Simenson of the idea of her purchasing a car or a house, for example. “But you can’t sell these streets.”

However, Simenson did eventually vote yes for the proposal.