Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The City of Nederland wants to create more than $4 million in funding to address widespread road and drainage improvements throughout the municipality; yet, there is no desire to raise taxes.

A plan approved this week aims to do just that.

In late April, the Nederland City Council selected a multitude of streets and drainage projects for upgrade.

This week, the Council authorized the issuance of City of Nederland Combination Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation in an amount not to exceed $4.5 million.

The money is earmarked to fund study, design, acquisition, construction, equipping, renovation, extension and improvement of streets and bridge widening.

The money will be used to purchase materials, supplies, machinery, land and rights-of-way related to drainage and detention facilities and for the purchase of materials.

A breakdown of selected streets:

• Widening of the 18^thSt Bridge at Canal Ave – $370,00
• Concrete Street Repairs – Nederland Ave between RR tracks and 3^rdSt. – $400,000
• Concrete Engineering & Surveying (20%) – $75,000

A breakdown of hot mix overlay:

• 9^thStreet – Helena to Nederland Ave (2,550 lf) – $285,000
• Avenue L – Twin City Highway to S. 16^thStreet (1,800 lf) – $200,000
• 23^rdStreet – Helena Ave to Nederland Ave (1,900 lf) – $210,000
• South 23^rdStreet – Nederland Ave to Ave H (2,600 lf) – $290,000
• Hardy Avenue – Ave H to concrete transition near Ave A (3,500 lf) – $1.2 million
• Luling – Twin City Hwy to 14^thStreet (1,400 lf) – $115,000
• 33^rdStreet – Hardy Ave to Nederland Ave (1,000 lf) – $110,000
• Engineering & Surveying (20%) – $425,000

A breakdown of drainage:

• Improvements – Ave N and 17^thStreet with engineering – $120,000
• Studies – Nederland Ave (1^stto 8^thStreets), Helena Ave (36^th St),
• Seattle Ave (27^th to 30^th Streets) – $400,000

City leaders said work is already underway on the 18th Street Bridge project.

Staff is expected to begin the engineering process to ensure these projects are all underway by Spring 2022.

City Manager Chris Duque said the city received three bids, and The Baker Group provided the lowest true interest cost; after adjusting for premium, with a final TIC of 1.357770 percent.

“At closing, the City will receive $4.35 million to spend on projects,” Duque said. “The TIC was approximately half the rate the city received in 2018 when the city last issued COs.”

According to Duque, the intent is for the issuance of this debt to be tax rate neutral and “not result in a tax rate increase.”

The city will now wait until the money hits its coffers before selecting an engineering firm and beginning design and bid specifications.

Stephen Hemelt is the president of Port Arthur Newsmedia, which publishes The Port Arthur News, panews.com and other products. He can be reached at stephen.hemelt@panews.com or 409-721-2445.