Last Updated on April 6, 2024, 8:47 AM | Published: April 6, 2024
BETHANY, Okla — The Bethany City Council held its first meeting of April. In brief, the Council:
- Congratulated Lady Patriots, and Broncos for bringing home state championships
- Approved a combined $18.5 million in loans to start a recently approved capital improvement plan
City of state champions
The Council had the honor of presenting both the Punam City West and Bethany high school girls’ basketball teams Mayoral Certificates of Achievement for their incredible seasons.
The Lady Patriots secured the 6A girls basketball state championship title in a thriller 41-40 game against the Edmond North Huskies, bringing home the trophy for the first time since c1981.
The Lady Broncos won the 4A Girls’ Basketball State Championship readily, taking a 48-28 lead against the Lincoln Christian Bulldogs. This is the team’s second-straight state title, making them back-to-back state champions.
Loans for water and sewer projects
Over the last several months, Bethany’s City Council has approved rate increases and a comprehensive capital improvement plan for much-needed infrastructure improvements around the City.
Now, the City must approve funding to get these prioritized projects moving.
Tuesday’s agenda proposed a set of loans to cover the $18.5 million price tag of the first set of projects, which raised some questions by the council.
As the City’s financial advisor Jon Wolff described, Bethany can take advantage of current interest rates, materials prices, and Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) programs if this set of loans are passed.
“Our concern is that rates might rise…we’re possibly in the best position at this point in time to take advantage of today’s costs, today’s interest rates,” Bethany’s financial advisor Jon Wolff said.
Council member Steve Palmer had some questions for Wolff after the presentation.
“If we borrow $18.5 [million], how much will we pay for the loan?”
This question wouldn’t be ultimately answered until the end of the meeting, but council member Palmer was given some other specifics about the loans.
In total, Bethany will be responsible for the interest rates for the two loans set at 4.31% and 3%, plus Wolff’s 1% cut of the loan’s closing value, and finally a $75-100,000 fee from OWRB.
The item ended up passing quickly with only Palmer voting against it.
However, The loan companion item came up later in the meeting and sparked more discussion amongst the council.
Public Works Authority meeting
Several members chose to speak on the item’s 2nd pass, both in favor and against the indebtedness.
After Palmer had Jeff Wolff add up the interest, totaling about $16 million over the loan’s term, the council got a clearer picture of the total cost.
“So we’re paying $34 million for $18.5 million…. So basically, we can just take the prices for each individual project and double them, is that fair?” Palmer asked.
“You’re going to pay, yeah, almost double,” Wolff responded.
Council member Peter Plank spoke in favor of the loan, referring to the increased construction materials prices he’s seen in the industry.
“An $800,000 project today may cost $1 million 5 years from now…lumping them all up and getting them done now is going to save us money.”
So did council member Chris Powell who mentioned that, if inflation exceeds the ~4% interest rate over the loan’s lifetime, “we’ll actually come out ahead as far as the spending power of the dollars we received in the loan.”
The Bethany city council again voted to approve the loans nearly unanimously, with Palmer’s exclamatory “NO” standing alone.
Damian Powell is our government reporter for the smaller municipalities in the OKC metro such as Moore, Norman, Bethany, and Warr Acres. Damian is studying Political Science at the University of Oklahoma.
