The Colony expects to borrow as much as $6.4 million later this fiscal year for street projects, a bridge repair, police and fire vehicles and other equipment, and the City Council is set to make that intent official on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
The resolution, a regular agenda item, does not issue any debt. According to the finance staff report, several capital items in the recently adopted 2026-27 budget depend on new borrowing that the city plans to sell when market conditions are most favorable.
Because some of that work needs to start now, the city would pay early costs from General Fund reserves and then repay the fund from the bond proceeds. Federal tax rules require a city to declare that plan in advance if it wants to reimburse itself with tax-exempt debt.
What the money would cover
A project list attached to the resolution totals $6,448,686, of which $6,260,924 would come from debt and $187,762 from grants. The largest pieces:
- $2 million for the Memorial Drive widening
- $2 million for Phase 15 street reconstruction
- $500,000 to repair the Turner Street bridge
- $500,000 for electrical efficiency upgrades
- $226,702 for a catalytic converter etching program, mostly grant funded
- $172,053 to replace mobile radios
- Four replacement patrol units at $87,359 each
- $100,000 for a recreation center outdoor master plan and $96,000 for a fire chief's vehicle
Smaller items include a $68,000 weather station and outdoor warning upgrade, extrication tools for a fire truck, a brush chipper, two public works trucks and new radio-frequency equipment for the library.
The resolution caps the expected borrowing at $6.4 million, an amount the staff report says includes the cost of issuing the debt.
