Adopt Thirty-First Supplemental Ordinance Authorizing Issuance and Sale of City of Fort Worth, Texas Water and Sewer System Revenue Bonds, Series 2017B, in the Aggregate Principal Amount of $63,000,000.00 and Approving Sale of the Bonds to the Texas Water Development Board and Adopt Appropriation Ordinances (ALL COUNCIL DISTRICTS)

1.  It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached supplemental ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of Water and Sewer System Revenue Bonds, Series 2017B, in the aggregate principal amount of $63,000,000 and approving the sale of the bonds to the Texas Water Development Board;

2.  Adopt the attached ordinance increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the Water and Sewer Bond 2017B Project Fund in the amount of $63,000,000.00 from proceeds of the sale of revenue bonds, to make system improvements, pay costs of issuance of up to $165,000, and to make a transfer of up to $2,363,549,74 to the Water & Sewer Debt Service Reserve Fund to fund the required reserve, with all such amounts subject to reduction to conform to final figures reflected in bond closing documents; and

3.  Adopt the attached ordinance, increasing estimated receipts and appropriations in the Water & Sewer Debt Service Reserve Fund in the amount of $2,363,549.74 from transferred bond proceeds to fund the required reserve, with such amount subject to reduction to conform to final figure reflected in bond closing documents.

The purpose of this Mayor and Council Communication (M&C) is to approve issuance and sale of revenue bonds to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) providing the second phase of the two-part subsidized financing for implementation of the multi-phase Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project along with an automated leak detection system.  Sale of these bonds is projected to close on November 21, 2017 and the proceeds will be used to pay for final phases of the project, funding a reserve fund for the bonds, and paying the costs of issuance.  

The planned project comes under the auspices of TWDB's State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for Texas (SWIRFT) Program, which provides low-cost financial assistance for eligible projects.  The subsidized interest rates offered by the program are less than traditional debt-financing costs.  The estimated borrowing cost for this debt issuance is 1.52 percent.

In 1991, the City adopted a Master Ordinance establishing a Water and Sewer System Revenue Financing Program for the Water Department.  Each time the Water Department issues debt, a supplemental ordinance must be adopted which contains details specific to the debt being issued.  This issuance would be the thirty-first supplemental ordinance since the Master Ordinance was adopted.

The attached ordinances reflect the maximum appropriations for proceeds, costs of issuance, and reserve fund. To the extent numbers at closing are less than those reflected in the ordinances, available appropriation amounts will be reduced as needed to reflect final figures based on the closing documents to ensure appropriations do not exceed actuals.

This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity.