The Wichita, Kan., City Council last week adopted a 10-year, $2.4 billion capital improvement plan that will be financed in part with $304 million of general obligation bonds.
The schedule calls for $216 million of the GOs to be sold, and for most of the bond-financed projects to be completed or under way by the end of fiscal 2015.
The percentage of Wichita’s property tax revenues going for debt service will peak at 27% in 2019, up from 14.5% in 2012.
The overall plan includes 336 individual projects.
The total includes $872 million in water utilities projects and $579 million for streets, including an additional $33 million over 10 years for street maintenance.
The $350 million of airport projects on the GO list include a $200 million terminal and a parking garage. The city expects the bonds issued for the work to be supported by airport system revenues.
In addition to GO proceeds, funding sources include federal and state grants, $872 million of debt supported by water utilities revenue, and $237 million of debt supported by Wichita’s portion of Sedgwick County’s 1% sales tax.
Construction of a $30 million central library will be delayed but the scope of the project will not be affected.
Wichita has $515 million of outstanding long-term GOs and $210 million of short-term GOs rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by Standard & Poor’s.
The city typically issues GO debt twice a year to reimburse the short-term note program that finances construction of capital projects. It currently retires 88.7% of GO debt within 10 years.
Located in south central Kansas, Wichita is the largest city in the state and has a population of 380,000.
