14.04.210 Loans to road service areas from the road service revolving loan fund.
A. An organized road service area within the Fairbanks North Star Borough, by and through its duly appointed commission, may apply for a loan which will be secured by a pledge of taxes to be levied in the road service area, to fund road improvement capital projects, major upgrades, and other similar projects within the road service area.
1. Applications shall be collected annually on or before June 30th. The Borough Clerk shall notice the date by publication by newspaper once a month for at least three months prior to the deadline as well as other appropriate methods. Applications submitted after the due date shall be deemed untimely and shall be considered with the next round of applications unless withdrawn by the road service area commission.
2. The application deadline and related requirements imposed in this section, including the review by the Rural Services Division and selection by the board, shall not apply to applications for projects that have already been selected by the Borough for grant funding. Subject to subsection (J) of this section, to the extent projects have already been selected for grant funding by the Borough, those projects shall be automatically deemed eligible for loan funding for up to 10 percent of the project costs, following receipt of a loan application that complies with subsections (B) and (C) of this section.
B. The loan application must be accompanied by a $250.00 loan application filing fee. The Mayor may defer the application filing fee in cases of emergencies. The filing fee would then be included in the loan amount or be paid back over time if the loan is not approved by the loan board or the voters. The service area commission must apply to the Mayor for deferral prior to submittal of the loan application.
C. The service area commission must submit a loan application provided by the board along with a proposed budget and plan showing income from a mill rate sufficient to:
1. Make annual indebtedness and interest payments to the fund;
2. Maintain adequate funds for the services normally provided by the service area, including annual maintenance; and
3. Provide for a fee to the Borough to cover administrative costs as determined by the Finance Department including administrative costs of the indebtedness.
D. The service area commission shall submit the application, the filing fee and the proposed budget to the Rural Services Division of the Public Works Department. Prior to forwarding the completed applications to the loan board, the Rural Services Division shall work with the service area commission to develop and finalize the application. The manager of the Rural Services Division, or designee, shall review applications timely submitted, and:
1. Attempt to validate the contents of the application;
2. Research the basis or history of the underlying project;
3. If the application meets the minimum requirements of this section, forward the application to the FNSB road service loan fund board (loan board) for processing. The director, or designee, shall enclose a recommendation for approval or denial of the loan and reasons supporting the recommendation; and
4. Provide staff support to the loan board.
E. The loan board shall determine whether or not a service area is eligible to receive a loan and when there is inadequate money in the loan fund to fund all eligible loan requests, the loan board shall prioritize the applications based on criteria set by the loan board which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. Life safety issues, including:
a. School bus or other child safety issues;
b. High traffic fatality or injury accident history; and
c. Accessibility issues for fire, ambulance or other emergency vehicles;
2. Nonfatality traffic accident history or other property safety issues;
3. Mitigation of the costs of combining road service areas;
4. Long-term maintenance and operational cost reductions;
5. Mitigation of high traffic level problems;
6. Matching funds from road service area fund balance or other sources;
7. Public support;
8. Benefit-to-cost ratio;
9. Project feasibility; and
10. Length of time to repay the loan.
F. The board shall only loan, in the normal loan application course, no more than 90 percent of the loan fund balance. The remaining 10 percent shall only be loaned on an emergency basis.
G. The board may request from the road service area commission additional information or clarification. The board may not change a loan application or project structure without the approval of the relevant commission; however, it may make recommendations for such changes.
H. The board may approve a loan amount less than the amount requested in the loan application; however, the commission may then withdraw the loan application prior to submittal of the list of approved loan application to the Assembly if they determine the project would not be feasible.
I. A loan made to a service area pursuant to this section:
1. Shall be subject to a vote in the service area as required by FNSBC 7.04.050(A);
2. Shall have a term recommended by the board, and approved by the Assembly, not to exceed the life of the project; and
3. Shall bear simple interest at a fixed rate of one percent.
J. Service areas may not apply for any additional loans if there is an outstanding balance due on a previous loan unless a prior project was not fully funded and the additional loan is for the second phase of the project or the Assembly makes a special exception due to extraordinary emergency circumstances.
K. Once the board has completed the approval and prioritization process, the prioritized list of loans recommended for approval shall be forwarded to the Assembly, through the Mayor, for final approval.
L. The Assembly shall set on a vote, subject to FNSBC 7.04.050, in each of the service areas which the Assembly approves for a loan.
M. Once a loan is granted after a vote by the service area, the Finance Department shall withdraw from a service area’s fund balance on November 15th of each successive year following the year of the loan funds sufficient to cover the annual payment, accrued interest and the administrative costs. The annual payment and the accrued interest shall be deposited in the service area revolving loan fund. (Ord. 2015-39 § 2, 2015; Ord. 2007-31 § 2, 2007; Ord. 2003-55 § 5, 2003. 2004 Code § 14.01.180.)