More money sought for Brownsville Sports Park

 Instead of getting a $1.8 million bank loan to upgrade the Brownsville Sports Park, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. now proposes to issue about $2.1 million in sales tax revenue bonds, city officials confirmed.

The BCIC board meets today at 4:30 p.m. in City Commission chambers at City Hall on Elizabeth Street to authorize the issuance for improvements to the sports park. The debt would be paid with sales tax revenues.

The City Commission meets later at 6 p.m. at the same location and possible action on a resolution regarding the issuance is on the agenda.

“The city just acknowledges what BCIC is doing,” BCIC board Chairman Charlie Atkinson said Monday.

Atkinson said Monday that the issuance of sales tax revenue bonds likely would be a less costly alternative than obtaining a $1.8 million loan from the First National Bank, a route that the City Commission approved Aug. 17 at BCIC’s request. With $500,000 in reserves, BCIC had intended to add this to the loan for $2.3 million in upgrades for the sports park.

BCIC proposes to add bleachers, restrooms, dressing rooms, concessions and storage.

The item on the commission’s agenda, however, reads that the funds would be, “to finance the construction of a multi-purpose community sports park.”

Assistant City Manager Jeff Johnston said Monday that this is the language that bond-counsel recommended.

For the present fiscal year of operations, BCIC’s budget calls for $3,300,000 in sales tax revenues, and $30,000 in interest income for total revenues of $3,330,000.

Projected expenditures also totaled $3,330,000, just as they have for numerous years now.

Yearly actual revenues and actual expenditures are not included in BCIC’s budget presentations to the commission.

This fiscal year’s presentation included the budgeted items for the prior year, presumably to allow comparison. Except for adjustments in line items, the total budgeted revenues and total expenditures have been the same presented to the commission for a number of years.

“Until FY 2007, the actual revenue for FY 2003 has been used for the projected revenue. Since FY 2008, FY 2005 actual revenue is being used,” a notation on BCIC’s budget presented to the commission states.

“As the only source of revenue and given the vulnerability of sales tax revenue, very conservative estimates are used,” the notation states.