At its meeting on Feb. 6, council heard a report from interim City Manager Aaron Rector and then approved the bonds, which provide funds for parks and recreation facility improvements.
The groundbreaking is at 10 a.m. Feb. 24 at Keller Sports Park, 265 Golden Triangle Blvd.
The background
A special task force was created by council in 2021 to investigate and make recommendations for improvements to the Keller Sports Park, with multiple public task force meetings and presentations on the project held between August 2021 and February 2022. In March 2022, council accepted the task force recommendation and instructed staff to begin the design process and authorized a design contract with Parkhill, according to a council agenda memo.
The project includes adding and renovating new sports fields and constructing buildings, such as new restrooms, storage and concession buildings.
Funding for the project will mainly be certificates of obligation funded by the Keller Development Corporation sales tax revenue. In December, council approved a resolution to publish a notice of certificates of obligation for $28 million to be funded over 15 years. The proposed issuance has been rated AAA by both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s and will be a competitively bid bond, the memo states. The total price of the project is $30.9 million, with $1.2 million coming from water and wastewater funds and $1.6 million coming from to be determined funds, Rector told council.
Zooming in
The total estimated cost of the issuance is $35.18 million, with an anticipated interest rate of 4.3%. The average annual impact will be $2.35 million, which is slightly lower than the budgeted estimate of $2.56 million, officials said. The debt issuance is $28 million funded over 15 years and will be paid by the KDC sales tax.
