Travis County Commssioners Court
April 29, 2003
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Item 45
45. Approve resolution approving the issuance, sale and delivery of bonds by the Travis County emergency services district #6, and other matters in connection therewith.
>> judge Biscoe, Commissioners court, good afternoon, I知 terry browder, president of esd 6, fire Commissioners district. We are here today to present to you a -- the bonds that we are going for so we can improve our area out there. I would like you to look at some of the things in there and one specific thing that I am interested in is -- it says: Travis County emergency district number 6, tex pool and tex pool reserve income report. And if you will notice, we have close to $3 million in one area and then in the total revenue account, we have 1,079,000. We are asking for 3.5 million in tax, in bonds. And at -- at that rate, it would run about $297,000 a year, from which I have just been told that's even going to be less than that. That is already in your budget. And will be in our budget so that means in -- in Texas poole reserve account of a million-79 will keep going, we won't even touch it. With that I would like to turn the next item over to lad pattillo.
>> I知 the financial advisor to the esd number 6. I think the chief, bruce watson who is here with us, has handed to you a bulletin. This was handed out to the actually mailed out to all of the citizens in the district prior to the election they had last September. And the election passed over 4 to 1. The -- the area that -- needs a greater fire protection services because of the -- of the response time. This particular station is going to be built with the bonds as a series 2003 is in steiner ranch. It will be the -- the -- the construction and equipment of that station. I知 very proud to say that esd 6 was given an a 2 rating by mood die's. This is the first one rated above the ear category. What's just been pointed out to you by Commissioner browder was the reserves that they have on hand are substantial. They have built those up through the years and they have substantial reserves, ending fund balances like you consider for your own bond ratings. I was very proud of the a 2 rating. We have qualified for insurance so the bonds will be sold next week as triple a insured bonds with the underlying a rating and expect the 20-year net effect of interest rate to be somewhere in the mid 4's. So it would be a lot less than what they have used in their planning factor. On that there -- their tax rate based on their current and estimated by art corey, their estimated assessed value, the tax rate to support these bonds would be just a little over half a cent out of their 10-cent cap. Do you have anything that you wanted to add?
>> no. Judge, Commissioners, we just appreciate this opportunity to come before you. This has been a long-term endeavor for the district. Approximately about six years we've had lad on our staff, Commissioner broader and our -- browder and our other Commissioner have been working very diligently to try to get to this step. What this means to the district is to fill in the gaps that we currently have, response times, the growth of the population, the economic growth in our area, and we are just trying to meet the needs of the community.
>> okay.
>> where are you on your 10 cents now?
>> at.
>> you are at the 10, at the cap?
>> yes, sir.
>> by doing that, in their 10 cents, what moody's and the other insurers recognize when they decided to underwrite that or to approve it is that they have been putting a substantial portion of that back in cash over the last five to six years. Actually in building up reserves. So they don't need the entire amount. And they do recognize that when they opened the new station, in steiner ranch, it probably will not only the debt service may be half a cent to .6, but the operational costs would push it up to probably a penny. Total. But there's room in there to do that. And the tax base this year, as you know from our own county experience on the tax base, there was a decrease in value of existing properties this past year that mr. Corey has told us about. However, there's been so much construction out in this area that it's kept it level.
>> and the commercial, obviously you all are watching carefully with that, lad, I know, giving the financial advisor for the -- I think we are what, 30 -- I don't know if you all are 30% of your appraised value. Out in the Lakeway area is commercial property. Like it is I think Travis County as a whole. That's a large number here. Given that 30% of the tax base comes out of commercial here, we see those appraisals going down at least 20%. You know, I知 certainly depending on you all erring on the side of being very conservative with regards to, you know, we can't get a blip here, all of a sudden something hits us and we can't afford that.
>> we also have, Commissioner Daugherty, a considerable amount of new business going in and of course your taxes are not claimed for the -- till the following year. So we have looked at a five-year long range as well as a short range. And we feel very confident that -- and there are things that are being talked about that are not even on the board yet. And the people previous to us talked about the -- about the area out in Bee Caves. This type of thing. I知 involved, wouldn't like to be, but I知 involved in this wal-mart problem out in Lakeway. These type of things. Lowe's has already said they're coming in. It's a done deal. So we have looked at all of this. We are fortunate in having the fact that all of these projects must come through us for okay for the size of the roads. The fire hydrants stuff. So we know much in advance where it's coming from. This has all been taken into consideration. I might also add we will have in that equipment, going into that new station, if not the largest or the only one, the largest ladder truck in the city and the county. And that will cost $840,000.
>> well, terry, not to pat you on the back our you or the chief either one to the point where it would off finished the other 8 esd's in your precinct.
>> in precinct 3.
>> I do want to commend you all for the work and for the job that you do out there. I mean, I come to that area, you all are just the talk with regards to how great of a job you do in the community, what do you from an educational standpoint or whatever. If there aren't any other questions I知 going to move approval.
>> second.
>> my more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you all very much.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you all.
>> appreciate it.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 6:52 PM