The Helper City Public Works building was the topic of focus for the first half of the council meeting that was hosted on April 4.
First, the council convened as the Municipal Building Authority of Helper to call a public hearing in regard to authorizing a notice of intention to issue not more than $800,000 of taxable lease revenue bonds for the acquisition of the building. The hearing was also in regard to improvements and other related matters.
Eric Johnson, Bond Attorney, was welcomed to speak. He explained that he has been assisting Helper for 20 plus years with municipal bonds, which is a loan to a public body. This was the way that the state legislature required a loan to be documented and one such requirement prior to any public body incurring debt in Utah is either an election or a public hearing.
The amount is not $800,000, though Johnson stated that is what the hearing is for due to the lender saying that until bids are in hand, extra must be listed in the notice in order for it to go up if the need arises.
Johnson informed the council that there have been communities in the past that have gotten fund packages such as this before and rejected them. When they then attempted to get the same package later, they were told that the funding package was gone and they would then incur a higher interest rate.
It was explained that the payment on the building will be annual and the security for the loan will be the building itself, much like a home loan. No taxes are pledged and there is no anticipated increase in taxes.
Due to Mayor Lenise Peterman participating in the meeting virtually, the council was urged to wait until she can sign off on the agreement herself. With no further discussion, the public hearing was closed and the annually renewable lease agreement was first approved as the Municipal Building Authority, then again as the Helper City Council.