The Jefferson city council made short work Tuesday of a pair of public hearings on the sale of general obligation bonds totaling $3.3 million. Neither public hearing lasted more than a minute, with no public comments received prior to the meeting and no one present to comment.
The council approved a resolution for a $3 million general obligation urban renewal bond to cover the cost of infrastructure improvement in the northwest portion of the city. Those improvements are needed to Wild Rose Jefferson and will be paid for with the additional property tax generated by the facility.
The council also approved a $300,000 general obligation bond to replace money taken out of the general fund for the purchase of the Jefferson Community Golf Course.
The bonds will be sold June 9 at 11 am.
The council also held a public hearing for the purpose of amending the 2014-15 budget. City clerk Diane Kennedy explained the line item changes. The amendment shows an increase in revenues from $7,594,208 to $11,457,955, with much of the increase coming from the bond issue.
The amendment shows an increase in expenditures from $6,930,121 to $10,699,891, with much of the change being the infrastructure improvements for Wild Rose.
The budget amendment shows an increase in the anticipated fund balance June 30, 2015, from $6,373,456 to $6,467,433. The fund balance includes proprietary funds set aside for future projects such as water treatment and waste water treatment.
The council set its next meeting, June 9, as the date for a public hearing to make the necessary zoning changes to allow a planned unit development, the Water Tower subdivision, in the northwest quadrant of Jefferson. The public hearing will be held at 5:30 pm.
In other business, the council accepted the recommendation of the council’s sewer committee to hire Neese Inc of Grand Junction to remove sludge at the waste water treatment plant and apply it in much the same way the company handles manure.
City personnel have done that in the past. According to city administrator, the committee considered the age of the current equipment, the manpower to spread the sludge, and the difficulty of finding places to spread it.
The contract with Neese is for 5 cents per gallon, with an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 gallons to spread.
In the consent agenda the council approved the resolution reporting salaries/wages for 2014. That resolution is posted under the Calendar/Agenda tab at GreeneCountyNewsOnline.
