During its May 15 meeting, City Council voted to allow for the full amount of bonds approved by voters to be sold at a maximum total interest rate of 3.79% and a maximum final maturity of 40 years. Lakeway officials selected Toronto-based TD Securities to purchase the bonds.
Jennifer Ritter, the city's financial advisor, said the funds will be available to begin financing bond projects as soon as June 8, when the transaction will become official. She also said the city will begin repaying bond funds after the first year to minimize direct cost to Lakeway taxpayers.
"The first year is interest only and then it goes to level debt service thereafter," Ritter said. "So we're not pushing principal off in the future. This is a level as quick as you can, essentially a repayment process to sort of maximize paying this down as quickly as possible and minimize interest cost to the taxpayers."
Lakeway's $17.5 million bond package was approved by voters Nov. 8, 2022. The monies will fund the following projects, under the transportation and connectivity improvement proposition that was posed to voters:
- Right-of-way acquisition for RM 620 widening;
- Box culvert reconstruction for Lakeway Drive;
- Culvert improvements for Top 'O the Lake;
- Road resurfacing for Lakeway Drive and Lohmans Crossing;
- Traffic signals for the intersections of Lohmans Crossing and Main Street as well as Flint Rock Road and Wild Cherry;
- Sidewalk construction for Dave Drive;
- Bridge and road construction for either Main Street or Birrell Street.
