Decatur City Hall.

The Decatur City Commission has cancelled a special called meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to vote on the issuance of $75 million in bonds for school construction.

On Nov. 3, voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to borrow $75 million for school  construction. Currently the school system has about 4,300 students, but will have over 6,000 by 2020. The $75 million to-do list for CSD includes $15 million for a new elementary school.

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The special called meeting was supposed to begin 4 p.m. Before the 4 p.m. meeting, there was also a called meeting at 3:45 p.m. of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is comprised of City Commission members, to appoint new officers. That meeting is also open to the public.

City Manager Peggy Merriss released a statement on Tuesday morning, Jan. 26, saying the meetings will be rescheduled.

“The called meeting for the City of Decatur Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) scheduled for 3:45 p.m. today and the called City Commission Meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. today have been cancelled and will be rescheduled,” Merriss said. “The City Commission Meeting was called for the purpose of approving the issuance of General Obligation Bonds for school purposes but the bond bid will be rescheduled to allow additional time for the City of Decatur and the City Schools of Decatur to complete some due diligence items. The URA Meeting was scheduled because the City Commission was already going to be at City Hall but that is no longer the case and it will be rescheduled to a more appropriate time.”

Moody’s Investors Service has given a positive credit rating to the $75 million general obligation bonds. Moody’s has given the bonds a rating of AA1 and given an AA2 underlying rating. Both ratings indicate that Moody’s considers Decatur’s GO bond to be a high quality investment with low risk. According to Moody’s, “An underlying rating is Moody’s assessment of a particular obligation’s credit quality absent any insurance or wrap from a financial guarantor or other credit enhancement.”

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