Prairie Village issues bonds for streets

Prairie Village has issued $10 million in bonds for public improvements, but the package is not entirely what had been envisioned.

The City Council had intended that $2 million of the bond money be used for park improvement projects, but the actions of one council member prevented that from happening.

Only recently did the council and Mayor Ron Shaffer approve an ordinance by a 12-1 vote that would allow the city to issue park bonds without first submitting such a plan to a citywide public vote. The new ordinance granting that authority, however, was subject to possible petition challenge, and that challenge was met by Councilman David Scott Morrison.

While Morrison has voiced support for the bond issue and the park upgrades, he opposes taking away an existing opportunity for the public to weigh in on spending issues. So he circulated and submitted a petition to stop the ordinance change.

The District Attorney’s Office still is reviewing the petition to determine whether its wording meets all legal requirements. But rather than wait for the challenge process to play out, city officials decided to proceed with the bond issue by leaving out the parks portion.

That does not mean the $2 million in park upgrades will not be made. City Administrator Quinn Bennion said the council still wants to come up with the money through cash resources over the next two to three years.

The overall size of the bond issue was not reduced with removal of the parks portion. Instead, the council decided to fund $6 million in street improvement projects rather than the originally intended $4 million.

Prairie Village traditionally has been debt-averse, so it uses bond issues sparingly. But with interest rates at historic lows and with construction bids elsewhere running lower than expected, the city decided to rethink that conservative fiscal policy.

The bonding, officials say, will enable the city to undertake a number of projects sooner than planned and to get them at less cost.

As hoped, the bond sale drew a low interest rate, with the winning bid coming in at 1.88 percent.

In addition to street work, the bond issue will be used for $3 million in storm sewer improvements and $370,000 in building energy efficiency upgrades. Another $675,000 will provide refinancing for bonds issued in 2000.

Prairie Village is the only first-class city in Johnson County that did not already have the ability to authorize the bonding of park improvements without having to put the question to a public vote.

Even if the District Attorney’s Office concludes that the petition is valid, the council could gain authority to approve bonds for parks. But that would take a citywide election on the question of gaining that authority.

Bennion said council members have indicated they probably would not be interested in going to a public vote. A special election would cost about $50,000, and Bennion said council members do not think it is worth the expense, especially since the proposed park projects probably can be done without bond money.

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