The city council's Committee on Finance and Revenue held a hearing last Thursday (Nov. 12) on
B18-475, the "Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Public Revenue Bonds Amendment Act of 2009," which has been introduced to allow the CFO's office to issue $32 million in city-backed bonds to help fund "phase 3" infrastructure improvements at
Capper/Carrollsburg. This would be in addition to the
$9.5 million in stimulus money that DCHA was awarded by HUD that will allow the phase 2 townhouses at
Capitol Quarter to go forward, possibly by the third quarter of 2010 if current financing negotiations with EYA go smoothly.
(Quick background: This infrastructure work would be a combination of underground work on the Second Street blocks around
Canal Park, the relocation of the DPW operations at New Jersey and K and demolition of that block, and perhaps the construction of I Street between Second and New Jersey. These projects were originally expected to be funded by the sale of unrated municipal bonds, but the current Economic Difficulties have made those sorts of bonds all but extinct, and additional attempts to secure loans from banks for the money have been fruitless as well.
Read this for more details.)
The hearing was pretty straightforward--you can watch it
via streaming video, plus I've managed to procure the
prepared written testimony of David Cortiella from DCHA if you're more of a reader than a watcher (like me!). The main takeaways:
* The city is intending to sell $32 million in short-term bonds, and will cover the estimated $600,000 a year in costs from funds in an industrial revenue bonds assessment fund held by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. After three years, when presumably the bond market is a bit healthier and Capper's own PILOT fund has begun to receive payments, long-term bonds will be issued. John Ross of the CFO's office called this "a very clever arrangement."
* Because the council originally approved a $55 million bond offering as part of the original Capper PILOT legislation, the cost of these bonds is already reflected in the city's budget.
* DCHA and the CFO are asking that this bill be approved on an emergency basis at the council's December meeting, so that the bonds could be sold during late December or early January, which is apparently a good bond-selling time of year. (Christmas bonds for everyone!)
* Cortiella mentioned that DCHA is also investigating a change in the tax code that may allow the financing of the 189-unit apartment building planned for the
old Capper Seniors site at Seventh and L (Square 882) by the third quarter of 2010.
* Money has already begun to flow into the Capper PILOT thanks to the completed houses in Capitol Quarter, and if the phase 1 and 2 townhouses and Square 882 apartments are finished as currently scheduled, approximately $1.2 million will be flowing to the PILOT fund each year by 2012. (It's the PILOT fund that then pays back the bonds.)
Jack Evans--the only councilmember at the hearing--was receptive to the plans and also to moving the bill as emergency legislation, calling it "a good project" and saying it should "definitely move forward." He also made sure to note that, since the new bonds are being backed with proceeds from the Gallery Place TIF, that the city will be "backing Ward 6 projects with Ward 2 money": "We're always helpful when we can be helpful," he said. He also reminisced that, when he first ran for city council in 1991, Near Southeast was in Ward 2, and that he received all of six votes across the entire precinct in the 13-man primary.
The council's December legislative meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15.