Council signals support for parks bond

Mar. 16—The Meridian City Council is expected to vote Tuesday to begin the process of issuing a $5 million bond for upgrades to the city's parks.

Council members discussed the bond in a March 14 work session and signaled support for moving the project forward. The council also discussed what funds are available and where the city will get the money for the anticipated $600,000 to $750,000 debt service payment each year.

Councilman Dwayne Davis said the city has several older bonds that will be paid off in the next several years. Two bonds rolling off in 2023, and an additional two bonds in 2024, will free up more than $400,000 that can be used to make payments on the parks bond, he said.

Davis said the council can also look at using internet use tax to pay for eligible projects in the parks overhaul. Internet use tax was created in 2018 by the state Legislature as a tax on online purchases. Under the bill, a portion of those funds is given to local governments. It can be used for roads, water and sewer infrastructure, but not turf fields, fencing or other projects.

Tray Hairston, with Butler Snow law firm, who has helped the city with previous bonds, said the internet use tax statute is fairly broad in defining eligible road projects, but it has some limitations.

"I would think parking lots would be problematic, but a road leading to a parking lot might be OK," he said.

Hairston said the city will need to go through the parks plan and study which projects are eligible to be paid with use tax funds.

The plan, which was released by the city earlier this month, calls for more than $4.3 million in paving, adding artificial turf infields, pickleball courts, playgrounds, splash pads and more.

Councilman George Thomas said he wants to make sure a sun shade is installed at Planet Playground at Northeast Park, a playground is added to Phil Hardin Park and a hole near the walkway at Q.V. Sykes Park is filled. The city has already purchased a sun shade for Planet Playground but has run into delays getting it installed.

"Take care of those three things and I'll support it," he said.

Thomas said the city will also need to make sure the new turf, playing surfaces and equipment is maintained and not allowed to fall into disrepair.

Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams said maintenance is on the top of his list. A lack of maintenance played a big part in the city's parks being in the condition they are today, he said, and the parks department has no intention of letting that continue.

Both Davis and Thomas highlighted the potential Meridian has to become a host city to large tournaments and travel sporting events. Investing in the city's parks, they said, is a fresh opportunity to present Meridian to the teams and organizations.

Davis said the bond for parks made sense when factoring in the economic impact travel sports and tournaments have on communities. From booking hotel rooms to filling up with gas, each player and team will put money into Meridian's economy and help support the city's residents.

Hairston said he will work with Adams to rewrite the city's intent resolution, which is needed to begin the bond process, to be more specific about upgrades and repairs planned at each park. The edits were requested to make sure there is no misunderstanding between the council and city administration on how the bond funds are to be spent.

The revised resolution is expected to be ready for the council to vote on Tuesday.

Mayor Jimmie Smith requested the council also consider a resolution to move a paving bond forward, but the council declined to add it to the agenda. Smith and his administration has been pushing the council to do a paving bond since November with little success.

Meridian's Public Works Director David Hodge said his department currently has about $500,000 to fund in-house paving and road patching projects throughout the city. The city's in-house crew can handle patchwork and some of the city's smaller residential streets, but heavily trafficked roads and long projects need to be contracted out, he said.

With inflation driving up the costs of materials, Hodge said, $500,000 is not a lot. Recent costs, he said, have increased the cost of paving at about $300,000 per mile.

Meridian has about 330 miles of road, Hodge said, and maintaining those roads is expensive. Whether it's through a bond issue, internet use tax or another source of funding, the city needs money to keep up with the roads and keep them safe for Meridian's residents.

Davis has said he supports using the city's roughly $1.8 million in unallocated internet use tax funds for paving projects. The city expects to receive roughly $3 million in use tax with $1.2 million allocated to pay debt service on two $6 million paving bonds passed in 2020 and 2021.

Thomas said the council could revisit the paving bond at a later date. Tightening the language in that resolution as well could ease some council member's concerns that their paving priorities are being ignored, he said, but care will be needed to leave the funds flexible enough to meet any unexpected developments.

For now, he said the council should move forward with the parks bond and get the ball rolling in its Tuesday meeting.