|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
DONNA — Five months after voters here gave the city the green light to take out $45 million in debt to fund the commercial expansion of the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge, officials have announced they’ll be able to get the job done for way less money.
That’s because on Sept. 26, the Texas Department of Transportation awarded Donna a $35.92 million low-interest loan via the State Infrastructure Bank. It’s a funding coup that recently had Donna City Manager Carlos Yerena beaming with giddiness.
“It’s a great thing for the city of Donna and it’s a culmination of a number of years of trying to get the commercial truck crossings in our community,” Yerena said after a Donna City Council meeting last week.
The state funding not only slashes the upfront costs to construct the bridge expansions, it will also save Donna more than $86 million in accrued interest over the 30-year life of the loan, the city manager said.
Donna officials have been working on adding commercial traffic lanes to the land port of entry since the bridge opened in December 2010.
That effort finally achieved momentum in 2019, when the first shovels went into the ground for the construction of two southbound lanes meant to facilitate the crossings of so-called “empties,” or commercial trucks that have already delivered their cargo stateside.
Crews completed construction of those lanes in 2021, but progress on the northbound lanes — those meant for use by fully laden trucks wanting to enter the United States — saw several hiccups and eye-popping increases to cost projections.
Over the course of 2022 and 2023, those estimates bounced around from about $40 million to $60 million to $77 million, then as high as $100 million.
By late last year, officials had seemingly hammered down the cost projections and were just days away from issuing nearly $62 million in debt to finance the project.
The bulk of that debt was slated to come from some $58 million in revenue bonds — a higher risk financing option that would have forced the city to take on the debt at a much higher interest rate in order to satisfy the risk concern from investors.
“The revenue obligation bonds were the first alternative we were looking at. It was the fastest route, but it was expensive. Very expensive because it was riskier,” Yerena said.
But, when a new faction took control of the city council, they put a halt to the revenue bonds and gave city staffers new marching orders — get it done cheaper.
“So, then we moved to the general obligation bonds. And we went out there and there was an election, and voters approved us moving forward with the improvements,” Yerena said, referring to the May 4 bond election.
But even as Donna residents were deciding on the bond election, city officials continued to look for other funding sources, the city manager said.
Donna looked into funding from the USDA, the North American Development Bank, and elsewhere.
Eventually, they turned their sights to the state’s own avenue for investing in infrastructure projects across Texas — the State Infrastructure Bank, or SIB, a revolving loan fund managed by the Texas Transportation Commission.
Donna applied for SIB funding, and on Sept. 26, got the good news it was waiting for.
It was a unanimous decision made after a motion by Alex Meade, the Rio Grande Valley native who now sits on the transportation commission board.
“These types of savings for our community are very significant. They mean that, instead of waiting 13 years to have operating surplus funds, we can now have operating surplus funds once we open up,” Yerena told the transportation commission just moments before it took a vote.
“Those numbers are very telling and very significant for us. From our community and our commission, we want to thank you for considering it,” he added.
The $35.92 million will come at a 3.19% interest rate, which is about half of what the city had been expecting from selling general obligation bonds to investors on the municipal securities market.
With a SIB loan, it will be the state of Texas itself who purchases those bonds instead, Yerena said.
For the city manager, being able to get the state — versus private investors — to invest in Donna is a smart money move that city staffers worked hard to accomplish for the benefit of Donna residents.
“It means that we did our due diligence and we were able to get a better deal for our community. And that better deal allows us to save $86 million,” Yerena said.
“And that’s a lot of money for a small community like Donna,” he said.
Donna expects to receive the funding around Oct. 29. From there, the city plans to put the project out for bid in February or March 2025, with the first shovels going into the ground by the summer.
Construction is expected to take 15 months.
