Helena City Council approves $45 million bond for new city hall, sports complex

HELENA, Ala. (WBRC) – On Wednesday, WBRC spoke with Mayor Helena about your concerns about the funds for the new City Hall and Sports Complex.

This comes after the city council approved a $45 million bond to help fund those projects as part of the city’s future plan.

Mayor Brian Puckett said they worked with financial advisors, auditors and attorneys to put a plan in place to ensure they repay that bond amount without reducing city services or the quality of life it provides to citizens.

Mayor Puckett said several funds will help repay that bond amount over time and only a portion of the general fund will be used.

About $175,000 will go toward the first year of the city’s repayment plan.

That amount will increase over the next five years, but with anticipation of new business and additional revenue that will allow the city to continue paying back the bond amount over the next 10 years.

Tanner Newhouse, a Helena resident, said he’s concerned the city is biting off more than the community can handle.

“If there’s no concern about people knowing what’s going on or how the money’s being spent, put all the information out there, let people see when things are paid for, let people see how things are going and start listening to people when there are concerns about how it will be used and spent.”

“There was a lot of planning that went into this, with the city council, with our team here to make sure that things were done right, that the funds were spent the right way,” Puckett said.

As for the reserve fund, that money was used to help pay for start-up and initial costs such as land and design.

At the end of the month, the reserve account will be replenished to compensate for the withdrawn funds.

$18 million of the $45 million will go toward the city hall project. The remaining $27 million will go toward the first phase of the sports complex.

More information access here.

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