Bond advisor Ed Murray tells Lansdale’s borough council about a possible 2023 bond borrowing during council’s Oct. 18, 2023 meeting. (Screenshot of meeting video)
Reimbursement resolution could be approved before funds secured
A long-discussed bond borrowing for Lansdale Borough could take longer than expected to complete.
Borough officials heard an update on that bond and on several piece of the puzzle that will need to be in place before completing the process.
Lansdale held detailed talks on a bond borrowing in late 2023, after a year of discussion on infrastructure needs around town, including potholes and road repair projects, aging equipment at the town’s wastewater treatment plant that prompted a rare summer sewer rate increase, and an electric rate study that could pave the way for a rate hike.
A new borrowing was referenced during budget talks throughout 2024, but put on the back burner as the town’s finance and public works directors left and were replaced. In February the town’s bond advisor gave details on Lansdale’s outstanding debt and payments remaining, and how a new borrowing could ‘wrap around’ the prior debt as it’s paid off in the coming years.
During the March 5 administration and finance committee meeting, councilwoman Carrie Oglesby said the committee she chairs heard details from the town’s bond analyst about several steps they’ll need to tackle, including a ratings call to reaffirm the town’s bond rating.
In February the bond advisor said that call would be done in the near future and the borrowing could take place in March, but that timeline now appears to be pushed back at least a month due in part to delays in finalizing the town’s 2023 audit, which staff have said was in part caused by turnover in the town’s finance director position.
“Once we complete our piece of the puzzle, we still have to wait for the auditor” to process that information and submit their audit report, said borough Manager John Ernst, “and the auditor from what we understand is working on several municipalities through the area. Lansdale is not alone in not completing ’23.”
Before the bond is completed, council would need to approve a parameters resolution spelling out the market conditions at which the bond advisor and staff can pull the trigger, and a reimbursement resolution allowing council to spend funds already held in borough reserves on certain projects, then reimburse themselves using the borrowed funds.
That reimbursement resolution could be ready as soon as council’s March 19 business meeting, according to Ernst, while the parameters resolution giving the specific numbers will likely not be ready before the April committee and council meetings.
Council President Mary Fuller added that one big-ticket item was already approved in February, and could fall under the reimbursement resolution with payments made soon from reserves and covered by the bond funds later: a contract for repairs to the main pool at Whites Road Park to be done before pool season starts in late May.
“We did award the bid for the main pool of Whites Road, for work to be done so that main pool can be open in the spring. That was about a $1 million price tag,” she said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on March 19 and the administration and finance committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on April 2, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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