Missouri City City Council, staff and financial advising firm Hilltop Securities met Monday to review different tax rate options in order to issue debt to support projects outlined in the city’s approved five-year capital improvement program. The program identified $39.7 million worth of projects for the fiscal year 2018-22 period, Missouri City Finance Director Edena Atmore said. Bonds have not been issued to pay for these projects. “All projects are evaluated annually, prior to issuance of debt, to determine what is actually needed to complete the projects,” she said. Staff recommends a plan to increase that rate to $0.17 with an equal principal payment schedule to pay off debt, Atmore said. This will give the city capacity for emergency expenditures and be financially responsible, she said. Of the current tax rate—$0.60 per $100 of assessed property value—approximately $0.15977 goes into the interest and sinking fund to support capital improvement projects. The other $0.44023 goes into Missouri City’s maintenance and operations budget. An interest and sinking tax rate of $0.17 will allow the city to issue $28.3 million in bonds throughout the next five years, meaning $11.3 million of projects must be deferred unless alternative funding sources can be found, Atmore said. “We may have to look at moving some stuff around in order to get some projects done along with the capacity that we have,” she said. However, increasing the tax rate for the city’s interest and sinking fund to support these projects may decrease available funding for its maintenance and operations budget, City Manager Anthony Snipes said. “Any movement that you make on the [interest and sinking] side—the debt side—has a direct correlation or impact on your [maintenance and operations fund],” he said. In addition to the interest and sinking fund, citizens have also voted in favor of bond packages in the past to support various capital improvement projects, approving $75 million in 2003, $17.5 million in 2008 and $40 million in 2014. However, just because voters authorized the bonds does not necessarily mean the city has the capacity to issue them, Snipes said. Council Member Yolanda Ford said the city needs to look at other solutions beyond cutting projects. “From [the city’s] standpoint, we’re doing a number of things to try to see how we can maximize [resources],” Snipes said. “For example, we’re doing a fee study right now to examine additional revenues that are out there.” Council members face important decisions regarding the budget and reprioritization of projects, Assistant City Manager Scott Elmer said. Certain infrastructure, such as the Hampton Drive Bridge over Oyster Creek, is quickly deteriorating, he said. “It feels like once a year we have such a back log, it really looks like poor management,” Council Member Anthony Maroulis said. Mayor Allen Owen said the real issue lies with the aging infrastructure of the city. There are millions of dollars of streets, drainage and sidewalks that need replacement, he said. “The aging of the city has finally caught up with us,” Owen said. “I don’t know what else we could have done. As [Hilltop Securities indicated], we’ve issued about as much debt as we could each year without going back to the citizens for a tax increase, which we try to avoid doing.”