City Council Meeting Date: July 19, 2016
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Melanie Lammers, Finance Director
Title
Draft of 2016 updated debt study
Body
Action Requested:
There is no action requested.
Summary Report:
The City of Northfield has been proactive in managing and planning for its long term debt. The attached draft debt study update is intended to give a picture of current debt obligations as well as guiding for future decision making. The debt obligation review is used in determining levy obligations. Typically, the debt study has been updated every 2-3 years.
The current draft illustrates no increase in levy after 2017. It shows the amount of debt the City can incur on projects without increasing the levy. The intent is not to issue debt in one year but rather to give a simplified picture at one point in time to give some general illustration for making policy decisions. All of our proposed bonds for 2016 are included in the debt schedule. The future infrastructure expenses are illustrating estimates based on prior Capital Improvement Plans. The current debt study does not directly correspond to the City Capital Improvement Plan. However, the intent is to continue to work to correspond improvement plans with the financial debt plan.
Finance Director Lammers and Ehlers Municipal Advisor Nick Anhut Council presented the draft study to the Finance Policy Subcommittee on Wednesday, July 13 and reviewed the draft debt study. Lammers and Anhut will be presenting a summary of the study to the City Council for review and discussion.
Financial Impacts:
The Debt Study is a tool the City uses for financial planning. We will be using and possibly modifying it during our budget cycle.