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Columbia Water and Light Requests Bond Issue

KBIA file photo

The Columbia Water and Light Department wants voters to approve a $69 million bond issue to pay for electric utility projects.

On Wednesday the city’s Water and Light Advisory Board recommended the bond issue to the Columbia City Council.

Jim Windsor, a utility financial manager with the Water and Light Department says the biggest items in the electric utility project are improvements to sub stations and transmission lines in the southern part of the city that will also impact the eastern and western part of the city.
He states that a bond issue is, in his opinion, the cheapest way to finance the project.  

“You do not have to raise a lot of cash right now to pay for the things that you have to do. And these are projects that we have to do. The least expensive way is then to sell bonds, you will get the money and you will pay for it over the time period,” he says.

The original proposal on a $69 million revenue bond issue from the city’s Water and Light Department was adjusted to $60 million by the advisory board in its recommendation to the city council.

The Water and Light advisory board fears that the political climate has changed in Columbia due to the fact that proposition 1 and proposition 2 were voted down in the November election.

Proposition 1 on the November ballot would have increased property taxes to pay for additional police and firefighters. Proposition 2 called for higher development fees to help pay for street projects.

Jim Windsor doesn’t think you can compare the propositions on the November ballot with this proposal.

“This is a completely different proposal. Historically the citizens of Columbia have supported electrical and water bond issue, because they rely on the services we provide and they know that we don’t do things that are not necessary,” he says.   

The Columbia City Council will decide whether the bond issue will appear on the April ballot.
Windsor hopes to have the work done by summer 2017.  

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