The Clovis City Council recently voted to approve the loan and construction of the new Fire Station 6 at their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
On January 11, City Council approved a $5.3 million construction award to Seals Construction for the new Fire Station 6 in the Loma Vista community in east Clovis. This project will be funded by an interfund loan from the Water Service Fund to the General Government Service Fund.
The original $5.3 million is the cost of construction but not the final overall estimated price for the project.
The final cost for Fire Station 6 was estimated to be $7.5 million after factoring in the cost of architectural, management and engineering along with land and site improvements, furnishings and equipment.
The $7.5 million will be loaned to the General Government Service Fund from the Water Service Fund. The interfund loan term is 10 years with an interest rate of 0.69 percent. The source of repayment will come from Development Impact Fees (DIF).
Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck asked if funding to pay for the loan was coming from DIF or if there are other income sources being used.
Finance Director Jay Schengel responded that all of the income will be coming from DIF. If home developers are able to build 650 houses per year in Clovis, the city would be able to meet the annual interest fees.
Councilmember Vong Mouanoutoua asked if this type of loan had been done in the past and if so, were there any issues in repaying the loan.
Schengel said there had been these types of loans before but the loan terms were different. He also stated that he doesn’t foresee any problems with repaying the loan and believes the loan may be repaid earlier than expected.
If for any reason there was a problem with the loan, Schengel mentioned the city would return to City Council to work out a solution.
“If you are allowing the departments to go into the loan and if there was for whatever reason, a violation of those terms then we would come back to council and restructure it,” Schengel said. “I can’t see the future, but if in three years development (housing) goes to zero for whatever reason…we would have to come back to council to let you know, we would have to restructure some component of the loan.”