Council to consider $14.3 million debt resolution Tuesday

 

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider a $14.3 million initial debt resolution in a special meeting on Tuesday.

The debt could include about $5.87 million for projects known as ESCO Projects that appear to be related to energy-efficiency projects in the city and its school system; $4.1 million for software, including for financial management and utility billing; $3.4 million for a replacement and upgrade of the radio system used primarily by the city’s police and fire departments; and $1 million mostly for design and engineering costs for the Oak Ridge Preschool and Senior Center.

If it’s adopted, the initial debt resolution, which calls for issuing up to $14.3 million in general obligation bonds, will be published in the newspaper. That will start a 20-day period in which at least 10 percent of registered voters in Oak Ridge can petition for a referendum on issuing the debt.

The bond resolution for issuing the debt would come before City Council for possible adoption at a regular meeting on Monday, October 9.

“During this time, staff will be reviewing the size of each debt component and the structure of the debt,” Oak Ridge Finance Director Janice McGinnis said in a September 15 memo to City Manager Mark Watson.

The special City Council meeting is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 19, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. You can see the agenda here.

Before the special meeting, the City Council will have a work session starting at 6 p.m. You can see the agenda for that non-voting meeting here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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