The Bartlett city board and mayor passed two bond resolutions at the Aug. 9 meeting. The first authorizes issuing up to $5.9 million in general obligation public improvement bonds.
The second authorizes issuing general obligation refunding and improvement bonds (a partial list of the city’s 2009 series bonds) up to $6.9 million. The goal is to save an estimated $136,393 on present value debt service, or 14.5 percent of the refunded principal of $940,000.
Also in the Aug. 9 meeting, Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir advised the board that the county’s economy continues to improve. He said his office collected a surplus this year, about $730 million in property tax, for a budget that is a little over a billion. The collection rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, is at 96.53 percent, the highest rate in the past 15 years. Bartlett’s collection rate is at 98.5 percent.
Lenoir said sales tax also points to an improving economy with an increase of about $500,000 over this time last year (in the 2.25 percent that comes to the county). Half of the county’s property tax goes to education, and the allocation to Bartlett City Schools is a $3 million increase over the prior year.
Among other business, the board also:
- Accepted the lowest of three bids for Bartlett City Hall’s interior renovations. The bid was awarded to Wagner General Contractors Inc. with a total base bid of $437,000 plus a contingency amount of $10,000.
- Accepted the lower of two bids for bond work in the Stonecrest Planned Development. The bid was awarded to Enscor LLC with a total base bid of $88,550 and a contingency amount of $10,000.
- Presented Miss Tennessee Grace Burgess of Bartlett with a Key to the City and a $5,000 check. She competes for the title of Miss America on Sept. 11.
- Issued a proclamation of achievement for Sam Reddick. The Bartlett native is a rising senior at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis, and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation recently awarded him a full-ride four-year scholarship at any accredited U.S. college or university.
- Recognized newly elected city judge Tim Francavilla, who replaces the late judge Freeman Marr. He will serve the rest of Marr’s eight-year term through 2018.
- Accepted the thanks of Jim Steinbrecker, Bartlett High School’s athletic director, for the board’s approval of an Oct. 1 event. The Judge Freeman Marr Panther Pride 5K Run/Walk will raise funds to help Bartlett athletics.
