Council considers $20 million in bond issues

Council heard first reading on bonds for the downtown crime lab, as well as for parking decks for the College Station and Heer’s projects.

Crime lab bonds

Council heard a bill for $2.7 million in bonds to renovate the former L.E. Cox Building at 440 E. Tampa St. into a state crime lab. The city and Greene County were offered a low-interest loan by a consortium of 14 area financial institutions. The loan is interest-free for five years, during which time the city and county can pay off the principal or refinance the remaining debt to a 20- or 30-year loan.

City Manager Bob Cumley said that the bank loan combined with $1.4 million in federal funds and $1.9 million in state funds would give the city and county about $6 million for the renovations.

The project has faced numerous delays. Initial bids came in well above budget, forcing the city to revamp the plans and send the project out for bids a second time.

“It was December 2005 when we started preliminary conversations about the crime lab,” Brian Fogle, executive director of the Great Southern Community Development Corp., told council. “We told (the banks) then that we thought the loan would close in about three months … 15 months later, it’s not yet closed.”

Despite the delay, 14 banks stayed on to finance the project, which should begin construction this month and take about a year to complete.

Parking bonds

Council also considered two bond issues for downtown parking structures, one for College Station and one for Heer’s.

College Station’s bonds, totaling no more than $12 million, would be repaid using revenue from two special sales taxes – a 1 percent capital improvement district tax and a 1 percent transportation development district tax – as well as the incremental increase in city and county sales taxes for the College Station property.

The $20 million project will include 393 parking spaces, 35,000 square feet of retail space and a 46,000-square-foot first-run movie theater.

The $6 million bond issue for the Heer’s parking deck, which will have 375 parking spaces on five levels, will be repaid through revenue generated by the redevelopment of Heer’s and money from the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act Lite prgoram, which allows sharing of additional state sales tax revenue from redevelopment projects.

Council is expected to vote on the three bond issues April 9.

Council seats up for vote April 3

City Council may be in for a slight shakeup after the April 3 election, as two council members, Shelia Wright and Conrad Griggs, face opposition.

Wright is opposed by Cindy Rushefsky, a per-course faculty member in the political science department at Missouri State University and former Greene County prosecuting attorney. Griggs is challenged by veteran council candidate Doug Burlison, former Greene County Libertarian Party chairman.

Greene County voters also will decide on a V-cent sales tax to pay for upgrades of the county’s E-911 system. The countywide emergency dispatch system has not been able to hire new employees since 1994 due to funding shortages, and it needs 22 additional staff members to operate at full capacity.

The main reason for the lack of funding: cell phones, which now make up more than half of all calls to the 911 system. State law prohibits 911 taxes on wireless communications.[[In-content Ad]]