After months of tabling and postponed action on the City Courthouse Bond, the Council voted Monday, September 8 to approve an additional authorization of $5,233,868. The vote was the required supermajority of 4-1, with Councilwoman Mary Ann Dickinson dissenting due to lack of information (see the Record article.)
According to the Record,
Council members wanted to know why the city wasn’t suing for the asbestos bill and threatened to delay the bond vote forever if they didn’t get answers to that and other questions about the project. Councilwoman Christine Bello lead a request for a state audit. The state comptroller sent a letter last week confirming it would examine the project, and Bello said she was confident the city was finally serious about pursuing litigation.
Further information about the call for an investigation by the Comptroller’s office is here.
This bond is reduced from the starting figure of $6,325,000 by the removal of two items – repayment of a Local Development Corporation loan of $416,715 and repayment of an Urban Development Action Grant of $560,000 (numbers and pictures below are taken from the work session and may have been preliminary.)
What are the consequences of not repaying the UDAG and LDC loan?
City Manager Jean Ann McGrane had this to say about it at the work session on Thursday night, September 4:
[...] Valentine’s memory is slightly off on the Broadway School amount. At the September 4, 2008 work session, then City Manger JeanAnn McGrane gives the council a presentation on options to reduce the cost of [...]