Provo Council debates competitive pool, bonding for rec center

PROVO (Daily Herald) -- City officials are moving forward with plans to build a new community recreation center for Provo. The Provo Municipal Council met with Mayor John Curtis, members of the administration and their financial advisers Tuesday to discuss the planned center, the final price tag and some of the pricier amenities.

The facility as now planned will be 156,000 square feet and will connect with the Veterans Splash Pool while replacing The Center, the Eldred Senior Center and the Provo Recreation Center on Provo High's campus. The $35 million to pay for it will come from a bond that most likely will be on the ballot in November.

That bond is an extension of the library bond, which was scheduled to run out in four years. Financial advisers Brian Baker and Jon Bronson from Zions Bank Public Finance discussed the options the city had, which included a $34 million bond or a $41 million bond and a 20-, 25- or 30-year amortization period at interest rates close to 4 percent. The significance of building off the library bond is that the tax will not be new.

"It'll just get going out a longer period of time rather than having that $46 end in four years," Bronson said.

With a 20-year payback time on a $34 million bond, the city would pay about $15 million in interest, and the tax on a $200,000 home would be $65. That includes the library bond payment, so the house payment on the average house would go up about $20.

The architects estimated the building would cost about $35 million minus the design cost. That estimate includes a $5 million competitive swim pool that most likely would be used by a small fraction of the population and would require the largest subsidy in the facility.

Original Article