By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays city commissioners will decide Thursday whether to approve a resolution for improvement of East 41st Street from Home Depot east to Vineyard Park.
A 3/4-cent sales tax was enacted April 1, 2005, for the Home Depot Transportation Development District (TDD), which currently includes Home Depot, IHOP, Hampton Inn, Town Place Suites by Marriott, the former JT Travel Plaza and a yet-to-be developed area for 47,000 square feet of retail space.
The TDD tax outperformed projections allowing for the 2004 TDD bonds financing the Phase I improvements to be called early and completed in January 2018.
Special Counsel Kevin Wempe with Gilmore & Bell has determined the 3/4-cent TDD sales tax could continue until March 2027 to fund a portion of Phase II improvements.
Phase II includes grading, pavement, storm sewer and waterline along East 41st east of Home Depot to Vineyard Park.
According to Kim Rupp, city finance manager, the TDD has collected a total of $2,730,214 over the last 163 months, averaging $247,000 annually the past three years.
“Adding in an estimate for the newly developed property in the district, which includes a hotel and travel plaza, we project that TDD sales tax revenue to increase to $282,000 per year. Based on these provisions, we agree that the current annual TDD sales tax collections would support debt service,” Rupp wrote in a memo to the commission. The undeveloped property is not included in the estimate.
A low bid for the improvement project, $692,133.50 by Paul-Wertenberger Construction of Hays, will also be considered.
Other Jan. 10 agenda items include a request for annexation of 23.310 acres of property on the west side of the Highway 183 Bypass and West 33rd Street by owners Robert and Sondra Swift; a pool reimbursement request of $19,668.70 from the Hays Recreation Commission for one-half of the 2018 pool operating loss; and a report from Mehran Shahidi, Sister Cities Advisory Board member, about his recent trip to China.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.