Public Hearings Tonight on Three Multimillion Dollar Bonds, including for New Marion Police Station

Tonight might be a good time to stop by City Hall.

The city will hold three public hearings on multi-million dollar bonds at tonight's meeting, starting at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 1225 Sixth Avenue.

If you come, you can give your input on three particularly large bonds: the General Obligation Urban Renewal Street Improvement Bond, the General Obligation Corporate Purpose Bonds and the General Obligation Urban Renewal Police Station Lease-Purchase agreement.

Yes I know, this is confusing. That's why I called Marion City Manager Lon Pluckhahn to figure out what these bonds are all about.

• The General Obligation Urban Renewal Street Improvement Bond is a yearly bond that funds municipal projects like the Tower Terrace Road project and South 11th Street reconstruction, among others. The cap on this bond is nearly $9.3 million. The city council is scheduled to vote on the bond on Jan. 19.
• The General Obligation Corporate Purpose Bonds is essentially the same as the above, except these are municipal projects in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. Due to some complicated legal requirements, the city has to issue these two bonds separately. The cap on this bond is $4.57 million.
• General Obligation Urban Renewal Police Station Lease-Purchase agreement. This is a $12 million lease agreement for the construction of the proposed new police station, which Marion Patch reported . Council members were originally opposed to the first plan of putting forth around $13 million for a completed building, suggesting instead to build a smaller building that can accommodate additions when necessary. However, Pluckham said this lease agreement solved the affordability issue. The lease certificate is a special type of loan that allows the city to get low payments now that will increase over time. He said the city will be able to afford the larger payments in the future given Marion's population growth.