Posted by DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD – In 1998 Parks and Recreation Bonds totaling $16.4 million were issued by the City of Little Rock. Approximately $10.5 million was used to purchase the Presidential Center/Park site and make it building ready; $1 million was allocated to turning the Rock Island Bridge into a pedestrian bridge; About $2 million went to the Zoo and public golf courses and the rest was for debt service reserves and issuance related costs. Counting the land, the bridge and proportional share of reserves and issuance costs the Clinton Center and Park received over 75 percent of the proceeds.
The city’s annual debt service payment of $1.3 million began January 1, 2001 with the original maturity of January 1, 2023. Of the $11.7 million paid by taxpayers from 2001 to 2009, the Clinton Center and Park total is about $8.7 million. This figure will continue to increase every year. But this investment by the Little Rock City Board and taxpayers has resulted in the Clinton Library being Arkansas’s tourism and convention magnet; over $1 billion in surrounding new economic development projects; the nation’s first school to offer a Master in Public Service (MPS) degree along with an internationally renowned speakers series; and when the hundreds of trees mature in the future, one of the most beautiful urban parks in America.
The 1998 bond issue was restructured earlier this year and the refunding closes July 23. It was divided into two series relating to capital improvements with one of the series maturing on January 1, 2034 and the other on January 1, 2039.
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