Helena city council approves $45 million bond for new city hall, sports complex

HELENA, Ala. (WBRC) – Wednesday, WBRC spoke with the Helena mayor about your concerns regarding funds for that new city hall and sports complex.

This comes after the city council approved a $45 million bond to help fund those projects as part of the city’s forward plan.

Mayor Brian Puckett said they worked with financial advisors, auditors, and attorneys to put a plan in place to make sure they repay that bond amount without reducing city services or the quality of life they provide for citizens.

Mayor Puckett said multiple funds will help repay that bond amount over time and only a portion of the general fund will be used.

About $175,000 will go towards the first year of the city’s repayment plan.

That amount will ramp up over the next five years, but with anticipations of new businesses and additional revenue, that will allow the city to continue to repay the bond amount for the next 10 years.

Tanner Newhouse, a Helena resident, said he is concerned the city is biting off a lot more than the community can handle.

“If there is no concern with people knowing what’s going on or how the money is being spent, put all the information out there, let people see when things are being paid, let people see how they are going, and start listening to people when there are concerns of how this is going to be used and spent.”

“There was a lot of planning that went into it, with the city council, with our team here to make sure that things were done the correct, that the spending of the funds were done the correct way,” said Puckett.

As far as the reserve fund, that money was used to help pay the initial and up front costs like the land and design.

At the end of the month, the reserve account will be replenished to off set the funds taken out.

$18 million out of the $45 million will go towards the city hall project. The remaining $27 million will go towards the first phase of the sports complex.

More information head here.

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