Council approves initial bond resolution for Preschool, Senior Center

Posted at 1:27 pm September 11, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A rendering of the new Oak Ridge Preschool at Scarboro Park. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/Studio Four Design)

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday unanimously approved an initial bond resolution of up to $16.5 million to build a new Oak Ridge Preschool and Oak Ridge Senior Center, and redevelop Scarboro Park.

It’s not the final bond resolution for the projects. The initial bond resolution approved in a 7-0 vote on Monday sets a ceiling amount for the debt issuance. A second resolution, a bond issuance resolution, will be brought to City Council, possibly at the October 8 meeting, for the actual bond issuance amount.

The City of Oak Ridge has opened the bidding period for the two projects, which have a total estimated cost of roughly $16 million. That announcement was made Friday.

But the city doesn’t know yet what the actual bids will be. And it’s not clear how steel tariffs might affect the projects, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said.

The bonds, which will add to the city’s debt, would be repaid out of the general fund, said Oak Ridge Finance Director Janice McGinnis. The general fund includes revenues from property taxes and sales taxes. A few months ago, the Oak Ridge City Council adopted a two-cent tax rate increase as part of the fiscal year 2019 budget process to help fund the projects.

There could be additional tax increases in fiscal years 2020 through 2022 to help cover the annual debt service for the projects.

The Preschool and Scarboro Park improvements have a total estimated cost of about $12.5 million. About $11.1 million of that is for construction. The Preschool would be built at Scarboro Park.

The Senior Center has a total estimated cost of roughly $3.5 million. About $3.1 million of that is for construction. The Senior Center would be built just west of the Oak Ridge Civic Center at Alvin K. Bissell Park.

Both projects have been on the city’s wish list for years.

The bond resolution approved Monday included about $500,000 extra for the costs of issuing the bonds and for project contingencies.

Adoption and publication of the resolution starts a 20-day period during which a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the registered voters in Oak Ridge can be filed with the City Clerk protesting the issuance of the bonds, according to the resolution.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

See previous story here.

A rendering of the new Oak Ridge Preschool at Scarboro Park. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/Studio Four Design)

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.