The marquee at Fox Theatre is seen in this photograph taken last May.
Centralia city councilors voted unanimously at their May 21 meeting to authorize a $1 million grant to the Historic Fox Theatre Restorations nonprofit in the form of a 30-year bond against the city’s lodging tax revenue.
However, the city is now unlikely to put out a bond just for renovation work to be done at the nearly 88-year-old downtown landmark, due to the outsized cost of issuing such a small amount of debt, according to city officials.
Councilors and city officials said at the most recent council meeting on June 12 that it’s more likely the city will finance
the grant internally while working to add projects to what could be a larger bond down the road.
“The smaller the bond amount, the higher the percentage cost to issue the debt,” City Finance Director Bret Brodersen said. “There’s still going to potentially be a debt issue for it. It’s just more costly per $100,000 of debt to issue $1 million compared to, say, $4 million.”
The city has already loaned $300,000 of the planned $1 million to the nonprofit after its president, Scott White, testified on May 21 that it needed a portion of its requested funds to finish HVAC work by July 1.
White said Monday that he thinks it will cost about $3.4 million in total to finish the renovations in time for the planned reopening in September, 2020.
Plans for continued action at 123 S. Tower Ave. include restoring the front plaza using the original ticket booths and doors. White also wants to install state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems in order to attract a wider range of acts to the 1,000-seat performance art center.
He and others working with the nonprofit are looking into using the federal Historic Tax Credit program and grants from private foundations to raise additional monies. They’re also hoping to receive as much as $1 million in state funding.
“We’re also in search of individual donors; people that maybe have the resources to make the restoration a reality,” White said. “If they’ve been waiting and watching, wondering if their money could make a difference, well it could be really important.”
Infrastructure projects such as road repairs would likely make up the additional projects attached to a bond issuance that includes the Fox Theatre grant.
Mayor Pro-tem Max Vogt spoke specifically about addressing road issues with such a bond measure. Councilor Peter Abbarno asked how quickly projects could be put together so that a bond could be issued before interest rates go up.
“I don’t know what the city manager is expecting on that,” Brodersen said. “We just wanted the council to be aware that right now, there won’t be a $1 million bond issue coming out.”
