Whitefish $1 million short for EMS center

By LYNNETTE HINTZE/The Daily Inter Lake

The recession has left the city of Whitefish with a $1 million shortfall for the construction of the city's new emergency-services center.

On Tuesday, the City Council will discuss ways to find more money and move ahead with the project. The two-story fire and ambulance facility planned on Baker Avenue is projected to cost $7.9 million, but the city has only $6.9 million available.

The city plans to market a tax-increment financing bond issue to pay for the new center.

But tax-increment bonds are revenue bonds and not general-obligation bonds and they depend on a revenue source other than a new property-tax pledge of "the full faith and credit" of the city, Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns explained in his council report.

A revenue bond typically is harder to sell to investors because of less backup security, he said. The credit crisis and economic slowdown are among a number of complications to the funding dilemma, Stearns said.

But on the bright side, construction costs have dropped significantly and the Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates to historic lows, he added. A federal economic stimulus program also could provide the needed infrastructure funding.

The council will vote on whether to proceed with construction bidding for the emergency-services center. Stearns is recommending the city move forward with the bidding because midwinter is a good time to get competitive bids and "a lot of contractors may be very hungry right now."

IN OTHER business, the council will consider a resolution outlining the city's list of critical infrastructure projects for the federal economic stimulus program.

It will act on a recommendation to award a $20,000 consultant contract for the review and evaluation of Whitefish water rights.

The council will hold a work session at 5:30 p.m. to review the 2009 extension-of-services plan, a guide for how the city will provide services to areas outside the city that currently aren't served but eventually may be annexed.

"At some point, the council needs to consider whether to pursue an annual annexation strategy," Whitefish Planning Director David Taylor said in his report to the council.

Following the work session, the council meets in regular session at 7:10 p.m.; both meetings are at Whitefish City Hall.

The meetings are on Tuesday because of the holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com