Nearly $1.5 million still needed for infrastructure repairs
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Faced with nearly $2 million in damages from July’s flood, and without any federal disaster aid, the Burlington Common Council authorized borrowing nearly $1.5 million at Tuesday’s meeting.
According to City Finance Director Steve DeQuaker, damages are estimated at $1.8 million, but the city received $105,000 from an insurance settlement to address some water/sewer backups and replacement of tools.
As the city awaits the outcome of a Department of Transportation grant, which goes toward reimbursement for the repair of a sinkhole, they are left with about $1.5 million in bills.
“We are getting the point where we need some help,” said DeQuaker, who noted the city cannot take out more than $1.5 million in general promissory notes.
The city plans to repair damaged infrastructure and other items related to the flood with funds received. Those include phone and computer systems at City Hall and the police station, remodeling of the police station, Echo Lake dam repair and park repair, among others, according to City Administrator Carina Walters.
City officials were assisted by Ehlers, Inc. to develop loan options.
The two options presented each had 10-year amortizations. One of the options offered savings of $12,000 compared to the other, but also would have had a much greater property tax impact in the earlier years of the loan.
“The negative of the first option is that the upfront impact of the borrowing is approximately $0.24 on the tax rate,” the memorandum states.
Although the second option had a lower affect on the tax rate at $0.17, the principal balance would be pushed later into the 10-year term.
City staff recommended and the council agreed to approve the option that had less tax impact despite costing more over the life of the loan.
For the full report out of last week’s meeting, see the Oct. 19 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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