The inside of the Cassadaga Water Pump Station is pictured. Photo courtesy Jamestown BPU website

The approval of bond anticipation notes from the city to help pay for city BPU upgrades is up for discussion and approval at tonight’s City Council voting session.

The BAN was discussed during last week’s work session, and will be to help with upgrades to the Cassadaga Water Pump Station. According to tonight’s agenda, the BPU has identified the need to upgrade the station and plans to apply for grant funding for a portion of the cost of the improvements. Staff has recommended that a design of the upgrades be completed prior to applications being made available for grant funding and engineering company Wendel Engineering has estimated those design costs over the next year will add up to $1,500,000. This amount exceeds the water department’s available cash reserves for the project.

The BAN issued by the city to the BPU will be for that amount at prevailing interest rates, and the proceeds of that will be paid into the BPU general fund to be used to fund the design and engineering of the Cassadaga Water Pump Station project.

The agenda also notes that staff believes the issuance of Bond Anticipation Notes is the appropriate mechanism for short-term borrowing for the Cassadaga Water Pump Station design and engineering. Bond anticipation notes can be renewed annually for up to five years prior to being paid off through revenue or issuance of bonds. The timing of the request coincides with the BPU’s request to renew the BPU’s 2025 BAN for water and sewer division capital projects. This request is made as a part of, and not in addition to, the Board’s resolution 250307 requesting the City to issue bonds for this project, and the city’s resolution 202504A04 authorizing the financing.

The council voting session will take place tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers on the second floor of city hall.