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HomeMy WebLinkAbout116-85 RESOLUTIONen - RESOLUTION ED• 116-85 SCANNED A RESOLUTION URGING CONGRESS NOT TO RESTRICT THE USE OF PUBLIC PURPOSE MUNICIPAL BONDS. WHEREAS, the House Ways and Means Committee has under consideration a tax reform proposal which would severely restrict the authority of cities to continue issuing traditional public purpose tax exempt bonds; and WHEREAS, under the Committee's proposal, a city's general obligation or revenue bonds would lose tax exempt status if any private entity benefited from the use of the financed facility or program by more than five percent; and WHEREAS, in many small cities many industries use more than five percent of a city's water plant or sewer plant capacity; and WHEREAS, the Committee's proposal would prohibit advance refunding of traditional public purpose municipal bonds; and WHEREAS, advance refunding enables municipalities to reduce interest costs and to eliminate burdensome covenants; and WHEREAS, the Committee's proposal would tax the interest on municipal bonds issued to finance construction of water, sewer or solid waste facilities if said facilities are publicly owned but operated by a private entity; and WHEREAS, the use of a private operator for a publicly owned water, sewer or solid waste facility can result in savings to rate payers and may be required to obtain operating guarantees from the contractors who construct such facilities; and WHEREAS, the Committee's proposal would eliminate all industrial development revenue bonds except for single and multifamily housing bonds; and WHEREAS, the issuance of industrial development revenue bonds by municipalities to promote manufacturing plants serves a legitimate public purpose by alleviating unemployment. ME, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF FAYEI•TEVILLE, ARKANSAS: 4.4 ' 4 -2- Section 1. That the Board of Directors hereby strongly urges Congress not to enact legislation which would: (a) Restrict the authority of cities to continue issuing tax exempt bonds for traditional public purposes; (b) Tax a city's general obligation or revenue bonds if a private entity benefited from the use of the financed facility; (c) Prohibit advance refunding of a city's general obligation or revenue bonds; or, (d) Prohibit a city from issuing industrial development revenue bonds to finance construction or expansion of manufacturing plants. PASSED AND APPROVED this 5th • I S*to Yf''7 ST • 7 A.� yf i. e'- '! t'1 y& C,ler '.. q1 •y•:': ...:'t�.. CO.^n. r+ • day of Nnvemhpr , 1985.