Bartlett OKS bond issues for upgrades

Covers vehicles, water, sewer

The Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved its annual series of bond resolutions Tuesday night to cover general obligation and water and sewer improvements, while also refinancing previous issues to lower the interest rate on those notes.

All votes associated with the bonds passed unanimously with no discussion.

The suburb routinely issues about $5 million a year in bonds for improvements. For the current fiscal year, the board approved $ 3.76 million in general obligation improvements bonds, plus another $1.24 million for water and sewer work.

The bulk of the money from the general obligations bonds is earmarked for an ambulance, replace-

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ment vehicles in the Police and Public Works departments, and about $1.75 million in paving and street repairs.

The water and sewer bonds are intended for extending utility lines.

City officials said lower interest rates contributed to the decision to refinance bond issues from 2004, 2005 and 2006 — a move that will result in a net savings of about $765,000, according to Mark Brown, the city’s chief administrative officer.

The interest rates from those three series range from 3.76 percent to 4 percent, according to a report from The PFM Group, the city’s advisers on bond issues. Bartlett officials hope to lower that rate to between 2.2 and 2.35 percent.

“If we have the opportunity to do re-funding, we take advantage of that,” Brown said. “If the rates are lower, we do that.”