City's bonding consultant says there's plenty of borrowing room for the Locust Road project

City of Decorah officials have gotten together with bonding consultant Mike Maloney from D.A. Davidson & Co. to prepare for borrowing money to pay for the Locust Road project.

Davidson says most Iowa communities try to limit their debt load to 75 percent of the assessed valuation of the property within their community.  By that measure, Decorah is in a lot better shape than most other Iowa communities--Maloney says the city's current general debt is just 16 percent of its total assessed valuation.

That means the city has plenty of room for borrowing, says Maloney.  In fact, the city would be at 44 percent of the assessed valuation of property even if it bonded for the entire amount of the Locust Road project.  Not only that, says Maloney, but bond rates remain low.

The Locust Road project is scheduled to take place next year, with the city seeking base bids and bids on an alternate which would extend the scope of the project.