Jackson is one step closer to issuing some $40 million in infrastructure bonds, funds that will be used in part to repair Riverside Drive.
At its meeting last week, the city council voted unanimously to issue bonds through the Mississippi Development Bank.
Bond documents were slated to be presented to the development bank this week, with officials saying the funds will be available sometime in May.
Among projects, the Lumumba administration is prioritizing reconstruction projects for Riverside Drive, and sections of Medgar Evers Boulevard and West Capitol Street near the Jackson Zoo.
The Riverside project, which includes completely rebuilding the roadway from North State Street to the I-55 flyover bridge, is expected to cost around $12 million, according to engineering estimates, leaving about $23 million available for other work.
After bond fees are paid, about $35 million in funds will remain.
Lumumba told the council that the Medgar Evers project would run less than $5 million but did not have an estimate for the Capitol Street project.
In all, $23.3 million will be dedicated to streets and sidewalks, $2.3 million for bridges, $2.5 million for water distribution lines, $2.5 million for sewer collection lines, $2 million for drainage structures and $1.3 million for traffic signals.
Other projects being funded with the bond had not been settled. The Mayor said those would be decided by the one-percent oversight commission and the city council.
The bond is being funded with the city’s one-percent infrastructure sales tax and will be retired over a 10-year period.
For fiscal year 2020, about $750,000 in one-percent monies will be used to cover the bond’s debt service. Next year, that amount will rise to about $4.2 million, bond counsel Trey Hairston said. Hairston is an attorney with the Butler Snow law firm.
PFM Financial Advisors LLC is serving as municipal advisor on the bond.
Historically, the tax has generated about $14 million a year. However, it was not known how the taxes would be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Oversight commissioners approved issuing the bond last year.
In March, commissioners voted 5-4 to amend bond documents to include Riverside, Medgar Evers and Capitol Street.
To be considered for the bond, the city had to present a list of shovel-ready projects that it could fund with the proceeds.
Commissioners Pete Perry and Ted Duckworth argued that Medgar Evers was not shovel ready, nor did they have an estimate on how much it would cost.
Mayor Lumumba, though, said he had spoken with engineers, who said Medgar Evers was ready to be bid for construction.
The Riverside project has been ready to move forward for months.
The first phase will include completely rebuilding the roadway from the flyover bridge to Peachtree Street. It calls for reducing the street from four to two lanes, adding a six-foot sidewalk along the south side of the roadway and a 10-foot-wide multi-use trail along the north side. Plans include preserving the oak trees in the median.
The second phase will run from Peachtree to North State.
Design work for the first phase was approved as part of the commission’s 2015 master plan. The city brought on Waggoner Engineering and AJA Consultants to design the first phase of the project and retained the firm to draw up the second phase.
However, no funds were ever set aside for construction.
