At their first meeting of 2024, Southgate City Council voted to approve financing for city street improvements for 2024. The approval clears the way for the next step — sending out the construction bids.
Before discussing financing options, council members heard from city engineer Jim Shumate on the overall street plan and estimates of the costs. Shumate said the estimates include a 30% contingency amount, and solid figures won’t be known until the bidding process is completed.
Proposed 2024 street program
Shumate listed the streets that would be included in the project. He included an outline of the work to be done and a rough cost estimate for each. With the built-in contingency amount, the total estimated cost comes to $781,389.
Here’s a breakdown of the proposed repairs and improvements:
Electric Avenue — westbound lane from Ridgeway Avenue to Walnut Street; mill and overlay, some full-depth repairs, curb replacement (estimated cost: $224,445)
Electric Avenue — westbound from Walnut to Temple Place; mill and overlay, curb replacement, handicap ramp replacement (estimated cost: $206,154)
Evergreen Avenue— from Temple Place to the cemetery (near where Duke recently did work); mill and overlay, curb replacement near VFW (estimated cost: $71,149)
Beech Road — finishing the remaining section from 229 Beech up to North Street; mill and overlay (excluding intersection with Harvard Place done previously), curb replacement (estimated cost: $198,341)
Auxiliary/overflow parking lot near the maintenance garage; full depth repairs, a 2 to 2.5 inch leveling course and a 1 to 1.5 inch new surface, a new extruded concrete curb. (estimated cost: $81,300)
Financing options
Mayor Jim Hamberg noted that Finance Director Patti Edgley and Council Member Thomas Wegener worked out the various finance options and provided council with details on costs to the city over time.
“We have the opportunity to do one of three financing options, a 10-year, a 20-year or a 25-year,” Hamberg told council. “You can see on the debt schedule that Patti put together, as well as what the KLC [Kentucky League of Cities] sent to us, within your documents.”
Both Edgley and Wegener recommended the city go with the 20-year repayment period.
“The analysis that I gave the mayor and Tommy was the 20-year option, over the 25-year. It is $600 more a month, but you save $140,000 over the five-year period. So that’s what I was leaning toward. The annual debt service would be $61,000,” she said.
Edgley said she then looked at the average sale price of the homes in the new Memorial Pointe subdivision and extrapolated that over 20 years, computed with current tax rates, and estimated it could bring in $78,000 in property taxes, an amount that would cover the debt service.
Hamberg noted the total cost for the 20-year bond over the term would be just over $1.2 million in principle and interest with a rate of 3.74%.
Council Member Joe Anderson had a concern about the safety of the curbs proposed for the auxiliary parking lot. The city recently added basketball hoops there, and a “rolled curb” would be safer for those using the hoops. The rolled curbs are more costly, so it was agreed they would be added as a second option for the construction bids.
Council voted unanimously to go with the 20-year financing, clearing the way for the construction bid process to begin.
