CITY & COUNTY
News from Cibolo, Live Oak & Schertz
Schertz City Council approves nearly $20 million bond resolution
SCHERTZ City Council on June 7 passed a resolu- tion with the intention to purchase $19,855,000 in certificates of obligation. The funds through the bonds would be used to cover FM 1518 road improvements, Main Street improvements, the replacement of the Northcliffe AC Pipe, the Live Oak Water Transmission Main and the relocation of utilities on FM 1518. City staff explained that a little over $11 million of the bonds are tied to water and sewer funds, which are not supported by taxes. Council Member Davis Scagliola raised concerns about the funds not being voter-approved, and said the city should be transparent, despite the tax rates not being raised as a result of purchasing the bonds. “I don’t like this idea,” Scagliola said. “I don’t like spending that kind of money without voter approval and without really having considerable input from residents themselves.” Assistant City Manager Brian James explained that the projects do not result in new infrastructure and that community feedback suggests residents expect the city to maintain current infrastructure.
“What I have heard in the 10 years I’ve been here is residents expect us to deal with basic city services: police protection, fire protection, streets, water lines, sewer lines, basic maintenance of parks,” James said. “That is the thing that we routinely hear from our residents.” City Council voted 5-1 in favor of the resolution with Scagliola voting against the item. The approval of the resolution only shows an intention from the city to purchase certificates of obligation in the amount of $19,855,000. Council will revisit the item Aug. 2, when it is expected to approve the sale of the bonds after the bid process ends. Schertz residents not in favor of the bonds can put together a petition to stop the sale of the bonds and move the bonds to the next ballot to be voted on. The petition needs to be supported by 5% of registered voters to succeed. The deadline to submit the petition is 45 days following the approval of the resolution, meaning the petition would need to be submitted before the Aug. 2 issuance of certificates of obligation.
PRICE BREAKDOWN Should Schertz purchase the $19.86 million in certificates of obligation, the funds would be split among five projects with three being utility-related.
Total: $19.86 million
FM 1518 road improvements: $5.61 million FM 1518 utility relocation: $5 million Live Oak Water Transmission Main: $4 million Main Street improvements: $3.25 million Northcliffe AC Pipe replacement: $2 million
SOURCE: CITY OF SCHERTZ
Live Oak Economic Development Corp. to contribute $7.75 million toward debt service
Cibolo Council revisits city’s noise ordinance
CIBOLO City Council on June 14 discussed the noise ordinance for the city, which was previously brought up in April to allow residents and business owners to come to an agreement about how to deal with noise downtown. Cibolo Police Chief Bryan Huggins gave a presentation on the results of a stakeholder meeting between resi- dents and businesses, and presented a compromise for council to consider. Council Member Katie Cunning- ham said the noise issue needs to
be addressed in the unified devel- opment code, or UDC, and the code needs to be revisited. “I think we really need to look at the UDC before looking at the decibels, not that the decibels are not something to look at, but that we really need to look at the UDC and see what is realistic,” Cunningham said. Due to conflicting opinions and comments from residents and busi- ness owners, City Council gave staff direction to bring back options to be voted on during a future meeting.
LIVE OAK City Council approved a resolution June 14 to accept $7.75 million from the Live Oak Economic Development Corp. to help repay debt on the 2022 bond series. The $18 million bond was approved to be used for repairing and maintaining major collector streets within the city. The LOEDC was able to contribute to the payment because the street repairs and maintenance meet the
criteria for a permissible project, and the money contributes to new or expanded business development.
PAYING OFF DEBT
• The Live Oak Economic Development Corp. gave $7.75M to the city to help pay off debt • The debt is the $18 million bond that passed for streets SOURCE: CITY OF LIVE OAK
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