SALISBURY – The county council voted unanimously this week to adopt a $51 million bond bill.
Following a public hearing on Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council agreed to adopt a legislative bill allowing the county to borrow $51,097,427 for eight capital projects.
“I will say $51 million is a lot of money,” Councilman Joe Holloway noted this week. “But last year we did not go to the bond market. That’s probably why it’s higher than what it’s been in the past.”
A lion’s share of the bond bill money – $19.6 million – will be used to fund the construction of a new public safety building, while $10 million will be allocated for a renovation and addition project at Mardela Middle and High School and $5.4 million will be set aside for an applied technology building at Wor-Wic Community College.
The bond bill also includes $4.7 million for the replacement of Beaver Run Elementary School, $3.5 million for a new landfill cell, $3 million for the airport technology park and $1.8 million for a runway extension, to name a few.
When the bond bill was introduced last month, Finance Director Pam Oland acknowledged that it was larger than most, but that the county wanted to take advantage of the favorable economic climate.
“Things are still looking remarkably good,” she said at the time. “That’s part of the reason to move now. There is a long process to be able to do this, and we’ll be coming back to the council for the second reading of this. But we have to wait the 60 days for this to pass to then allow us to solicit bids. We’ll close on this, and the council will probably get a resolution on those costs in December.”
With no further discussion this week, the council voted unanimously to adopt the $51 million bond bill.
