$21 million debt issue approved
The council approved the issuance of $21.15 million in debt with most of the proceeds earmarked for drainage and road related construction project.
Nearly half of the issuance amount—$10.41 million—will be spent on projects related to drainage while another $7.95 million will be spent on street- and road-related projects, according to meeting documents.
The majority of the bonds will be repaid with city property taxes. Approximately $2.2 million of the bond proceeds is earmarked for a project at Sugar Land Regional Airport and will be repaid with money generated by the airport, according to meeting documents.
Jennifer Brown, the city’s director of finance, said the bonds will be issued in varying amounts with varying interest rates, but the total amount will carry an average interest rate of 2.78 percent and will be paid off in 20 years. JP Morgan Securities won the right to sell the bonds by submitting a bid with the lowest interest rate.
“We received 10 bids, which might be a record,” Brown said.
The measure passed unanimously.
Contract approved for rehabbing water storage tank
City Council unanimously approved a $459,000 contract with M.K. Painting for maintenance work on one of the city’s groundwater storage tanks, located off First Colony Boulevard north of Hwy. 59.
“Although they haven’t worked for Sugar Land before, they have worked for many surrounding cities,” assistant city engineer Jessie Li said.
The 1.5-million gallon tank is part of the First Colony Water Plant, and was last rehabbed in 2001, Li said. The city received 13 bids for the job, with the highest bid coming in at $893,700, according to meeting documents.
The work called for in the project includes replacing valves, coating the inside and outside of the tank with epoxy, along with other work.
Work is planned to begin in May and should take about four months to complete. Li said there would be no service interruptions.
Council reviews Smart Financial Centre operations
The city’s Smart Financial Centre will see changes to its parking lot in hopes of easing congestion, the president of the company operating the venue told council members during a briefing on the venue’s first three months in operation.
Gary Becker, president of ACE SL, which operates the venue, described plans to add handicap parking and reconfigure some parts of the lot.
“The parking was far from perfect,” he said. “We’re in the process of making changes to parking so that everybody is as close as possible [to the building].”
Jennifer May, Sugar Land’s executive director of business and governmental affairs, told council members the city was able to save $50,000 during construction and opening of the venue. Terms of the agreement between Sugar Land and ACE call for any such savings to be reinvested into the Smart Financial Centre, and spent on projects that are agreed upon by ACE and the city.
Details were not provided on how the $50,000 might be spent.
“People all over are talking about Sugar Land because of this,” Council Member Bridget Yeung said. “Not only is it great for economic development, it’s also really great for our pride.”
The venue has received 83,595 paid attendees through March, May said.
