As reported in the Courier of Montgomery County, a tough time is ahead for the City of Conroe according to new mayor Duke Coon. The challenges ahead include finances and water infrastructure.
The new mayor defeated Councilmember Todd Yancey in a runoff on June 15th. Montgomery County Elections shows Coon got 54.09% of the vote while Yancey got 45.91%.
Looking back to April, the council was shown information by water consultants from Houston’s Lockwood, Andrews and Newman that there was a “dire situation” with the north side’s water pressure issues. Back on May 15th a boil water notice was issued after the city lost part of their water system pressure. Then, in June, citywide landscape irrigation restrictions were implemented by the council.
Assistant City Administrator and Public Works Director Norm McGuire said that going on a decade Conroe had cut water and sewer projects and has not properly funded their capital improvement program.
Coon thinks the present staff is the “right team” to take on the water problems.
Another major problem faced by the city are occupancy issues with Conroe’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. Regarding the $117 million facility, Standard & Poor’s analysts caution that the hotel may not bring in enough revenue to reimburse Conroe’s $142 million for the project.
The credit rating for the Conroe Local Government Corporation, since February, has been downgraded twice by S&P and they have cautioned the corporation faced a risk of declaring bankruptcy and placing the city’s credit rating at risk. A first and second lien are hotel revenue bonds which is what the downgrade was for. Not affected was a third lien.
The city received a financial report in April that said that the city will have to take care of the hotel’s debt until 2050. The city will be required to remit $1 million payments annually through that year.
In March, Assistant City Administrator and Director of Finance, Collin Boothe, said it is not known how the corporation will repay the lien. The corporation could sell the hotel, according to Boothe, but that would warrant legal review.
