Story by Donna Thornton donna@southerntorch.com

The Rainsville City Council voted in a special called meeting Wednesday to approve the sale of bonds in an agreement with Raymond James.

The council had authorized Mayor Rodger Lingerfelt in May to proceed with plans to borrow $6 million for city projects.

A representative from Raymond James told council members in preparing for the bond issue, the city’s good finances and city growth served the city well. Even taking on the additional debt of the bond issue, the city’s bond rating improved from A to A-plus, which impacts the rate of interest the city can get when borrowing money.

He said when he made a presentation to the city in May, the rate was 4.46%, with level payments of $540,000 for 20 years.

The city will now get an interest rate of 4.17%, and payments will be $520,000 per year. He said that could be attributed to the market and to that improved bond rating.

Lingerfelt said in May the money would be used to construct a new public works facility so that facility can be moved out the middle of Rainsville, and to build a new city hall. He said he believes all the projects can be constructed using that bond issue.

The council approved two sewer-related construction bids, awarded to Talley Lambert Construction. The first will extend a force main sewer line from George Wallace Drive to Rainsville Waste Water Treatment Plant, which should stop some problems with overflows that have been experienced. The city has about $583,000 in federal funds that can be used; the bid for this project was $471,500.

The other project will extend the gravity sewer line from Roy Sanderson Avenue toward the Industrial Park. The approved low bid for the project was $192,392.