City bond sale will finance a long wish list of projects

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city will sell nearly $19 million worth of

bonds this month to raise money for a bevy of capital improvement

projects that range from beach renovation to a new sports stadium.

City Council members voted unanimously last month to approve the sale

to refinance, design and launch construction of projects in Surf City.

City officials have not sold new bonds to pay for capital improvement

projects since 1993. But with the economy still sailing and a revenue

stream secure enough to repay the bonds, city officials said they could

afford to use the bond option this year.

“Where there is a stream of money to finance the paying of bonds,

things can happen a lot quicker,” Councilman Dave Sullivan said.

The city has raised substantial funds from beach parking, concessions

and special events to pay for the bonds, said Ron Hagan, the city’s

director of community services.

“We are reinvesting in our beaches and other projects the money we are

making off the use of our land,” Hagan added.

In addition to the capital improvement bonds, the city also sells up

to $20 million in bonds annually. The funds will be used to meet the

city’s payroll while waiting for cash from property and sales taxes, said

John Reekstin, the city’s director of administrative services.

The bonds will be sold by Salomon Smith Barney on the financial market

on July 13 in increments of $5,000. City officials said selling the bonds

will not create any additional cost to taxpayers.

And the city has a host of things to spend the money on:

* A beach maintenance facility -- a new 1.5-acre facility on Edison

Way near the AES Power Plant for beach maintenance vehicles. Construction

is expected to begin after Labor Day with a completion date of spring

2001;

* South Beach Phase I -- renovation of a section of Huntington City

Beach, between Beach Boulevard and Huntington Street, to include a new

parking lot, restrooms, new landscaping and a sand wall. Construction is

expected to begin after Labor Day, with a completion date of September

2001;

* South Beach Phase II -- Renovations on city beaches from Huntington

Street to 1st Street. Construction is expected to begin in September

2001, with a completion date a year later;

* Central Park Sports Complex -- a planned, 45-acre sports complex in

Central Park that would include eight softball and soccer fields, four

outdoor roller hockey arenas, a batting cage, snack bars, playgrounds and

parking for more than 700 vehicles. Construction is expected to begin in

January 2001, with a completion date of fall 2002;

* Energy retrofit -- improving lights in city buildings to make them

more efficient;

* Emerald Cove -- refinancing a low-income, 162-unit elderly home

built in 1991. Officials hope to reduce the financing from 8% to 6%;

* Water fund repayment -- repaying $4 million borrowed from the city’s

water fund to rebuild the Huntington Beach Pier in the early 1990s.