Carbon officials endorse issuance of revenue bonds

By Sun Advocate

During two special meetings last Friday, Carbon County officials dealt with a significant amount of money.
The first session was a meeting of the Carbon County Municipal Building Authority. The commissioners authorized a resolution to issue $4.5 million in lease revenue bonds.
The bonds will provide funds for four projects, including the county ambulance garage, Carbonville Road improvements, a gun range near Wattis and the county road shops on Airport Road.
The bonds will be sold to the Utah Permanent Community Impact Board. The state agency has agreed to provide funding and grants for the local projects.
“We have all these projects on line and we decided to issue them all together rather than breaking them up,” said Commissioner Mike Milovich. “Each will be paid on a different schedule with the first payment due on July 1, 2006.”
Commissioner Bill Krompel pointed out that the actual amount of the CIB loans for the projects is $3,831,000. The commission had approved the extra amount to “provide flexibility” in the use of the money for the work.
The four projects are in various stages of development. Only the road shops, where site preparation has been partially done, has begun construction.
The ambulance garages location remains somewhat in limbo. The county purchased property near 100 North and 100 West in Price, but several neighbors to the proposed facility have protested construction at the location.
The commissioners have been examining different locations and plan to conduct a public meeting on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. to accept input about the present proposed site.
The Carbonville Road renovation is still in the planning stage. The county is working on rights of way with a few land owners on the west side of the road. The county is also in final negotiations with Union Pacific Railroad for the right of way on 3.5 mile stretch of property on the east side of the road.
The plan includes:
•Building a wider road with a turn lane in the middle.
•Installing curb and gutter and sidewalks on the west side of the road.
The gun range or county recreation area will be located a few miles west of the junction of Wattis and Hiawatha roads. The county recently purchased 640 acres for the site. Work will soon begin on grades and roads.
Finally, the county shop site has had some work done on it. At the last commission meeting, the architects were selected and design work will begin soon.
The bonds will be used to pay for the loan portions of the money that are coming in for the projects.
In addition to the loans from the CIB, there is also grant money for the projects along with federal funding awarded to the county to improve Carbonville Road. The total cost for all the projects is nearly twice what the county will be paying back in loan payments.
In another meeting immediately following the first, the commission met in a special session to approve money that the Carbon Country Restaurant Tax Committee had recommended for a new addition to Price City’s Main Street. The commissioners approved a $10,000 award for the purpose of erecting a centerpiece and a bronze Gary Prazen sculpture of Kokapelli at the intersection of 100 West and Main.
The idea to put the sculpture at the intersection begins an effort to make Main Street more attractive to outside traffic and to bring more business to downtown Price.