Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993 TAG: 9311200204
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He will recommend that City Council schedule a public hearing on Dec. 13 on the proposed bond issue.
Under state law, the city can issue bonds with or without a referendum.
For needed projects such as the city's courthouse, jail, water system improvements and a downtown parking garage, council has agreed to issue the bonds without asking voters to approve them.
Council recently approved the issuance of $13 million in bonds for the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center and $7 million for expanding the jail and juvenile detention center.
At the public hearing on the proposed sewer bonds, taxpayers can express their views on the proposed bond sale.
City officials said the sewage treatment plant needs to be expanded and upgraded to accommodate the projected growth in the Roanoke Valley in the next 20 years.
Unless the plant is expanded, the valley localities face the prospect that the state Department of Environment Quality could impose a ban on new sewer connections. That would halt economic growth.
The localities have agreed on a $41 million plan to expand the plant and replace several major sewer lines. Roanoke owns the plant, but it treats sewage from the other localities.
Under the cost-sharing plan, Roanoke will pay $15.7 million; Roanoke County, $12.3 million; Salem, $10.5 million; Botetourt County, $1.9 million; and Vinton, $990,000.
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors voted in principle this week to pay its share of the cost.
State law permits cities to issue bonds equal to 10 percent of the assessed value of real estate within their boundaries. The assessed value of real estate in Roanoke is $3 billion.
The city's bonded debt is $88 million - far below its limit of $300 million.
The water and parking bonds don't count against the city's debt limit because they are not part of the general fund debt that is repaid with tax revenues. They are being repaid with fees, not general fund taxes.
by CNB