By Michael V. Hannigan
The Athens City Council approved a $12.8 million Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) Monday night on a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Monte Montgomery voting no.
The majority of the plan will be funded by Certificates of Obligation, which officials say can be issued without impacting the City’s tax rate.
The CIP includes about $10.5 million for a municipal buildings project that would cover repairs to the Cain Center — the City will assume control of the facility in January — plus build a police station on the Cain Center property and move City Hall to the location.
The City held a public forum Monday regarding the Cain Center project which we streamed live. You can see the video here.
The other big project on the CIP list is the Texan Theater rehabilitation, which is estimated to cost $1.4 million.
Mayor Jerry Don Vaught said that the council had talked about funding the Texan Theater project at $600,000 and trying the raise the rest of the funds privately, but he said he was afraid the project might never get done that way.
“This could be the next jewel in Athens,” said Vaught. “It could become an entertainment venue for the arts, for concerts, for things like that.”
The CIP also includes the creation of a water model of the city’s water system.
“That water model is one we desperately need in order to assess exactly what could happen to impact the system,” said City Manager Philip Rodriguez.
The complete CIP list includes:
- Water Model – $198,000
- Wastewater facility improvements – $180,000
- Municipal buildings project (Cain Center) professional services, infrastructure, furniture, fixtures, equipment – $2.3 million
- Municipal buildings project (Cain Center) construction – $8.2 million
- Texan Theater – $1.4 million
- Downtown aesthetics (park benches, lighting, etc.) – $85,000
- Cain Park improvements (lighting) – $40,000
- Fire station improvements – $55,000
- Peach Park improvements – $35,000
- West Park improvements – $30,000
- CIP contingency – $251,000
City Councilman Ed McCain said the time had come for the City to be bold.
“Why do it if we’re not going to do it right?” asked McCain. “That’s been happening in this town for 30 years. I don’t want to put band-aids on things. We’re going to get one shot to do this, one shot to get the money at a great rate. I think it is financially irresponsible not to do it right.”
“We were just at the opening of HVAC Manufacturing and they were bringing in global companies here,” said McCain, “companies from all over the world coming to Athens, Texas. And when they see a downtown like we could potentially have, when they see a Texan Theater, when they see municipal building like this and a school like this they could say, ‘I want to come here and live and bring my global company here.’ I think this is a true investment.”
Funding for the CIP will come from the following:
- Certificates of Obligation (debt) – $12.17 million
- General Fund fund balance – $180,000
- Hotel Occupancy Tax fund balance – $375,000
- Downtown Capital Fund – $110,000
Monday, the City Council heard from representatives of Hilltop Securities who said based on the proposed tax rate for Fiscal Year 2017, the Certificates of Obligation would not raise taxes. The term of the debt would be 20 years.
Officials said that the $12.17 million was the ceiling for how much the City could borrow without raising taxes, but that the City wasn’t required to borrow that much.
“Just because that’s the amount doesn’t mean we’re going to spend that amount,” said Councilman Tres Winn.
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