Capital projects identified in Table 1 of the Debenture Issue Authority report number 2025-160, dated April 1, 2025…

1:20:17So with that, we'll just continue in the agenda

1:20:19and we are sticking with me for now,

1:20:21which is the governance and the office

1:20:23of the Chief Administrative Officer.

1:20:25And the first up is going to be items for discussion

1:20:29and it's debenture issue authority.

1:20:32And so I'm gonna ask Shanna,

1:20:35I guess I could kick things off, Shanna.

1:20:38Yeah, sorry, don't have my glasses on.

1:20:41Great, I'll leave it to you and Dylan as well

1:20:44to come up and do a presentation

1:20:46just to give us an overview

1:20:48of what we're looking at as a council

1:20:49and what the recommendations are.

1:20:51So thank you for being here, go right ahead.

1:20:53Okay, thank you very much and good afternoon,

1:20:55Mayor Guthrie and members of council.

1:20:58Today we're here to talk to you

1:20:59about debenture issuance authority.

1:21:02As part of the multi-year budget

1:21:03and 2025 budget confirmation processes,

1:21:06we outlined a debt strategy that estimated using,

1:21:09or issuing approximately 50 million in debentures annually

1:21:13for the next several years to finance capital projects.

1:21:16Today we have a report on the agenda

1:21:18with recommendations to begin

1:21:20to implement the approved strategy.

1:21:22The city has not issued debt since 2021

1:21:25and we have therefore prepared a presentation

1:21:27to walk you through the debenture issue process,

1:21:30providing an overview of the administrative steps

1:21:32that will be happening to get our debt to market

1:21:35and where council is involved in that process.

1:21:38Our objective today is to provide you with information

1:21:40to help you effectively exercise your governance role

1:21:43in the debt issuance process.

1:21:51So this slide outlines our agenda for today

1:21:54and the topics we'll cover.

1:21:56We'll start off with why we're here

1:21:57and where we currently are in the debenture issuance process.

1:22:01Then we'll move on to more specific items

1:22:03including the legislative authority

1:22:05for municipalities to issue debt,

1:22:07the city's debt management policy,

1:22:09how the proposed recommendations in the staff report tie out

1:22:12to the debt strategy that we presented last fall,

1:22:15and finally we'll talk about next steps

1:22:17after today's meeting.

1:22:21So why are we here?

1:22:22Over the last few years,

1:22:24there were two significant facilities projects approved

1:22:26which are advancing on schedule for opening in late 2026,

1:22:30the South End Community Center

1:22:31and the Baker District redevelopment.

1:22:34These projects will serve our community for decades

1:22:36and we're therefore debt financing

1:22:38a significant portion of them.

1:22:40Most of the debt that will be issued in 2025 and 2026

1:22:44will be to meet the cash flow needs of these two projects,

1:22:47but we will get more into those details

1:22:49a little bit later on.

1:22:51There are two key points in the debt issuance process

1:22:53where action from council is required.

1:22:55Receiving debenture issuance authority,

1:22:57which is the recommendation before you today,

1:23:00is the first of those two key actions from council.

1:23:06This figure outlines the debenture issuance timeline.

1:23:09The first step determining draft borrowing needs

1:23:12is done as part of the budget process.

1:23:14We're currently at the second step

1:23:16where we are seeking council authorization

1:23:18for the upcoming issuances.

1:23:20After council authority is received,

1:23:22staff will be working with the city's fiscal agent

1:23:24and external legal council to finalize

1:23:26the debt issuance details,

1:23:28including the amount, term and structure of the issuance.

1:23:32At that point, marked by the vertical line after step four,

1:23:36the city is ready to issue and can pause the process

1:23:39and await a window of opportunity to engage investors.

1:23:42The timing will be determined based

1:23:44on a combination of factors

1:23:45and will be heavily dependent on market factors,

1:23:47including availability of cash flow

1:23:50and investment timings of major government

1:23:52and corporate investors who will be buying our debt.

1:23:55And other economic factors,

1:23:57including Bank of Canada interest rate decisions,

1:24:00employment reports and other impacts on the debt markets.

1:24:04City staff will be working closely with the fiscal agent

1:24:07to choose an opportunity to price

1:24:08and sell the debentures to investors.

1:24:11The next key action from council

1:24:13will be to approve the debenture bylaw

1:24:15after the debenture is priced and sold.

1:24:18This bylaw will detail the debenture,

1:24:20including debt servicing costs,

1:24:22and we will seek approval for the bylaw a few days

1:24:24before the transaction is closed

1:24:26and the proceeds are received.

1:24:31Next, I'd like to introduce you to Dylan Prince,

1:24:35senior corporate analyst, financial strategy

1:24:37on our financial strategy and reporting team.

1:24:39And Dylan will walk you through an orientation

1:24:41on municipal debt and the city's

1:24:43debt policy framework and strategy.

1:24:51Thanks, Shannon.

1:24:52I'm gonna start us off with a review

1:24:54of the legislative framework that municipalities work within

1:24:57when we're issuing debt.

1:25:00The municipal act allows the city to issue debt,

1:25:03but has some restrictions on what the debt can be issued on

1:25:05and how long we can be borrowing for.

1:25:08First, municipalities may only issue debt

1:25:10for capital projects and not for operating expenses.

1:25:14Second, the term of the debenture that is being issued

1:25:17cannot exceed the useful life of the assets

1:25:19that are being financed.

1:25:21These are key considerations that factor

1:25:23into the determination of the debt strategy

1:25:26as it's being prepared during the budget process.

1:25:30So how much debt is the city allowed to issue?

1:25:33Ontario regulation 403 slash 02 sets out the upper limit

1:25:37for annual municipal debt servicing costs.

1:25:40Debt servicing costs includes both principal

1:25:43and interest payments, and the regulation says that

1:25:46the city's principal and interest costs

1:25:47in a given year cannot exceed 25% of own source revenues.

1:25:52Own source revenues are made up of property taxes,

1:25:55utility rate revenues, and user fees.

1:25:58Guelph is well below this limit and is forecasted

1:26:01to remain below this limit for the coming years

1:26:03under the current debt strategy.

1:26:06So from a legislative perspective,

1:26:09the debt strategy is checking the boxes.

1:26:15So in order to issue debt directly to the market,

1:26:19the city obtains a credit rating

1:26:20from an independent credit rating agency.

1:26:26There are several agencies including S&P, Moody's,

1:26:29Fitch's, and DBRS.

1:26:31The credit rating is a tool used by investors

1:26:33to assess investment risk of an organization.

1:26:37City currently has a AAA credit rating rated by S&P,

1:26:41which is the highest possible rating

1:26:42and allows the city to borrow at favorable rates.

1:26:46The credit rating is reviewed every year

1:26:48to indicate the credit quality of the city's debentures.

1:26:53Next we'll talk a bit more about how we determine

1:26:56which capital projects to debt finance.

1:27:00So in November 2024,

1:27:02Council confirmed the 2025 budget and tenure capital plan.

1:27:06This includes the debt strategy,

1:27:07which assigns debt financing to capital projects

1:27:11and also outlines planned debt issuances

1:27:14over the next 10 years.

1:27:16The budget and debt strategy set the roadmap

1:27:19for when the city will go through the debt issuance process

1:27:23and which projects will be financed.

1:27:27The city has a debt management policy in place

1:27:30with the goal of borrowing purposefully and sustainably

1:27:33to moderate the impact of large capital projects

1:27:35on the tax levy and user rates

1:27:37and promote intergenerational equity.

1:27:39It's not practical or desirable

1:27:41for a growing municipality like Guelph

1:27:43to build up the reserve funds

1:27:45to fully fund capital projects.

1:27:47If we saved up for significant long-lived assets

1:27:50before building them,

1:27:51the people paying for the assets

1:27:52would not get the benefit of using them.

1:27:55Using debt financing helps to build

1:27:57infrastructure sooner and spread the costs

1:27:59over a number of years

1:28:00while the community is benefiting from the asset.

1:28:07The C's debt management policy fits

1:28:09within the overall long-term financial framework.

1:28:11While you heard a little earlier

1:28:12about the legislative maximum amount

1:28:14of debt servicing costs,

1:28:15the debt policy outlines additional guardrails

1:28:18to maintain the city's long-term financial flexibility

1:28:20and sustainability while limiting vulnerability.

1:28:24Our policy provides additional limits,

1:28:27which assist in ensuring the city maintains

1:28:29a sound financial position

1:28:31and the city's credit-worthiness is protected.

1:28:36So we have a policy in place to help guide us

1:28:38and it's working.

1:28:39The prudent use of debt as a financing tool

1:28:41has put us in a good position.

1:28:43Guelph has a healthy amount of capacity

1:28:45to finance new infrastructure

1:28:47while borrowing costs represent a very small amount

1:28:49of total expenditure.

1:28:56The chart shows our debt outstanding

1:28:58over the past five years.

1:28:59In 2025, we're approaching the levels of debt

1:29:02that we had before our 2021 debt issuance.

1:29:05The makeup of our current debt has also shifted

1:29:07more heavily towards development,

1:29:08charge and supported debt.

1:29:14The debt strategy in the 2025 confirmed budget outlines

1:29:17which projects have been assigned debt

1:29:18and the year we expect to issue.

1:29:21The debt strategy is a long-term strategy

1:29:23that includes projects that have been approved

1:29:24in previous budgets and projects that are proposed

1:29:27in future budgets.

1:29:29The debt that we're seeking authority to issue today

1:29:31only pertains to projects that were approved

1:29:34through the 2024 and prior budgets.

1:29:37The strategy was developed estimating

1:29:40that the city would be able to borrow

1:29:41approximately $50 million in any year

1:29:43based on the capacity of the market to invest in city bonds

1:29:46and we communicated through the budget process

1:29:49that the actual amount of borrowing in any given year

1:29:51will change with the changing economic environment.

1:29:58Earlier we discussed the annual repayment limit

1:30:00as a regulatory limit.

1:30:02The chart shows our projected debt services,

1:30:04debt servicing levels from the debt strategy

1:30:07as a percentage of own source revenues.

1:30:09The blue line is a regulatory limit

1:30:11and as you can see we're currently well below this limit

1:30:14and projected to remain there.

1:30:19This graph shows a slightly different story.

1:30:21This is the debt to operating revenue

1:30:22from our debt strategy over the next 25 years.

1:30:25Noting that our current debt strategy only goes out 10 years

1:30:28as it aligns to the capital budget period.

1:30:31This chart has two thresholds as depicted

1:30:33by horizontal lines.

1:30:34The top line is our 55% city policy maximum

1:30:39and the lower line is the 30% recommended upper limit

1:30:42from S&P.

1:30:43Our debt strategy has us crossing the S&P limit

1:30:47as early as 2027 which may result in a credit rating

1:30:50reduction as early as this year's review

1:30:52as S&P's forecast period includes the current year

1:30:57plus two additional years.

1:30:59However, we are projecting to stay well below

1:31:02the city policy maximum which will maintain our flexibility.

1:31:09Next we'll take a closer look at the projects

1:31:10that we'll be issuing debt for in 2025 and 2026

1:31:13with the authority that we're seeking approval for.

1:31:18We're requesting authority to issue just over $118 million

1:31:21of debt over 2025 and 2026.

1:31:24This is slightly higher than the $50 million

1:31:27estimated annual cap used in the debt strategy

1:31:30and whether we'll be able to issue the full amount

1:31:33over the next two years will be determined by the market.

1:31:37If we cannot issue the full 118 million,

1:31:40the unissued portion will be the top priority

1:31:42for the issuance in 2027.

1:31:44As mentioned earlier and as outlined on the slide,

1:31:48most of the debt proposed to be issued

1:31:50in over 2025 and 2026 is for the South End Community Center

1:31:54and the Baker District projects.

1:31:56In addition to these two projects,

1:31:58we have a balloon payment for the 2016 dementia issue

1:32:02that's to be refinanced in 2026.

1:32:05So that's also been included on the authority request.

1:32:09You'll notice that we previously issued a portion of the debt

1:32:11for the South End Community Center and the library.

1:32:13This was done through the latest venture issuance in 2021

1:32:16to take advantage of extremely low interest rates

1:32:19that were available at that time.

1:32:21All the debt in the table is part of the debt strategy

1:32:23presented last fall during the budget confirmation process.

1:32:27And the authority requested today is an administrative step

1:32:31that allows staff to execute on the debt strategy

1:32:34through a debenture issuance.

1:32:40This table shows the funding sources

1:32:42that support the $118 million of debt financing.

1:32:46Of the $118 million, $66.4 million is property tax funded.

1:32:50$5 million is rate funded through parking rates

1:32:53and $46.8 million is development charge funded.

1:32:57It's important to note that during the budget process,

1:32:59we also estimate the annual repayments,

1:33:02aka the debt servicing costs for the upcoming debt issuances.

1:33:06We include those debt servicing cost estimates

1:33:08in the reserve fund forecasts

1:33:09that are presented through the budget.

1:33:11The actual debt servicing costs will depend on the timing,

1:33:14term and rate obtained while we issue the debt.

1:33:18But the key thing to know is that the debt payments

1:33:20are already factored into our forecasts.

1:33:26Most of the information we've shown you so far

1:33:28has explained what's led us to today.

1:33:31In the last section of our presentation,

1:33:33we're going to discuss what will happen

1:33:35after a council provides its authority

1:33:37to issue the 2025 and 2026 debt.

1:33:43Subject to council approval on April 23rd,

1:33:45C-staff will engage the city's fiscal agent,

1:33:48National Bank, to execute the financing.

1:33:50As mentioned earlier, the exact timing, date, size

1:33:53and design of the upcoming issuance

1:33:55will be determined through discussions

1:33:57with the fiscal agent and will depend on factors

1:34:01like the market conditions

1:34:03and the prevailing preferences of investors.

1:34:06We're targeting to issue just over $118 million

1:34:11in the next two years,

1:34:12and this is expected to occur over multiple issuances.

1:34:19At this point, I'd like to highlight a few key points

1:34:21we've gone over today.

1:34:22Back in 2021, the city pre-issued some of the debt

1:34:27for the Baker's District and South End Community Center

1:34:29projects.

1:34:30There's $92 million of debt financing remaining

1:34:33to be issued on these two projects,

1:34:35which will be issued over the next two years.

1:34:38With the authority requested of $118 million

1:34:43to the end of 2026,

1:34:44staff will have the flexibility to work with the fiscal agent

1:34:47and choose windows of opportunity

1:34:49for issuances within that time period and that dollar limit.

1:34:56This slide outlines the three recommendations

1:34:59before council today.

1:35:00The first recommendation requests approval to issue debt

1:35:04for the capital projects outlined in table one

1:35:06of the report, the South End Community Center,

1:35:09the Baker's District and the refinancing

1:35:12of the 2016 balloon payment.

1:35:15The second recommendation requests approval

1:35:17for the city treasurer to work with the city's fiscal agent

1:35:20to market the debt up to a maximum authorized amount

1:35:23of $118 million with a maximum term of 20 years.

1:35:28The third recommendation seeks approval to fund the debt

1:35:30servicing costs associated with the new debt

1:35:33from the applicable capital reserve funds.

1:35:41Coming back now to the timeline we showed you near the beginning

1:35:43of the presentation, the two bold steps are council's role

1:35:47in the issuance process.

1:35:49We have provided an overview of all the steps

1:35:51so you can see what we'll be working on in the background

1:35:54between now and the next time you'll hear from us.

1:35:57The next key council action will be approval

1:35:59of the debenture bylaw which will occur

1:36:01after the debentures have been priced and sold

1:36:04but before the transaction closes.

1:36:07The timing of that step is not known right now

1:36:10but we're currently targeting sometime between early May

1:36:13and early July for the first issuance under this authority.

1:36:19At this time we would like to invite any questions

1:36:22from council about the debt issuance process.

1:36:25We're joined today by our fiscal agent Dave Burner

1:36:27who from National Bank, he's on the line to help us answer

1:36:30any of your questions as well as our consultant Craig Dyer

1:36:34who has significant municipal finance and debt expertise

1:36:37and has been an invaluable resource for staff

1:36:40as we work through this process.

1:36:45Thanks Dylan and thanks Shanna.

1:36:47And just before we go to questions I know Councillor Allt

1:36:51is willing to move and Richardson is willing to second

1:36:57so thank you that's officially on the floor

1:36:59of the recommendations then but just before I go to you

1:37:01Councillor Allt just wanna recognize we're doing some

1:37:03recognitions at the beginning.

1:37:05We should recognize Shanna you are now our official.

1:37:10This is I think this is maybe your first meeting

1:37:12as our general manager finance.

1:37:15I think so.

1:37:16I think so too.

1:37:17Thank you.

1:37:18So clap for you as well in your new role.

1:37:22Keep the interest rates low for us.

1:37:25Okay so congrats to you and thank you again

1:37:29for both of you for the presentation.

1:37:30Councillor Allt you can kick us off with some questions.

1:37:33Thank you very much Mayor Dethry.

1:37:35Hopefully my questions will be short

1:37:37but I think they do speak to the debenture issue

1:37:41which I'm quite happy to move.

1:37:44I think staff has been a phenomenal job

1:37:46of explaining the rationale for this.

1:37:50And I'll start off with the preface.

1:37:52The debt issue clearly is identified

1:37:55that we're in a strong financial position.

1:37:57And I'm wondering first of all,

1:38:00does the uptake on a debenture actually show further

1:38:04confidence from the market in the city?

1:38:08Perhaps that's for Mr. Burner

1:38:10or some of our outside consultants.

1:38:15Thank you.

1:38:16Yeah through the mayor I would like to ask Dave Burner

1:38:19to respond to that.

1:38:20He's the best person I believe.

1:38:32Hi David it's Mayor Guthrie.

1:38:33We can see you on the screen there

1:38:35as then there's your camera.

1:38:36And can you speak for us

1:38:38just to make sure we can hear you?

1:38:42Okay no that's not working.

1:38:46I don't see the mute button that's on for you

1:38:48but yeah we just can't hear you yet.

1:38:56Do you want to maybe try unplugging your headset

1:38:59and then maybe it might just pick up naturally

1:39:01from your laptop?

1:39:07Try unmuting now.

1:39:08Oh no there you go.

1:39:11For me?

1:39:11We can.

1:39:12Oh beautiful.

1:39:13Did I actually fix that or was that?

1:39:17I know it wasn't me I'm not that good.

1:39:20Cause that's pretty good.

1:39:22I feel pretty good about that

1:39:23cause I'm not good on that stuff at all.

1:39:25So you go ahead we can hear you go for it.

1:39:29Through your worship to the councillor.

1:39:33Councillor could you just please

1:39:34re-ask that question as long as I've lost my train of thought.

1:39:39Absolutely that's technology for you.

1:39:42And I believe that the uptake on a dementia

1:39:45can actually show further confidence of the market

1:39:49in a city is that correct?

1:39:51That is absolutely correct yes.

1:39:56There's a number of factors that would influence

1:40:02how well absorbed, how well as you use the term uptake

1:40:09that would affect that.

1:40:11But one of them certainly is confidence

1:40:15that investors have.

1:40:17The city has a wonderful AAA rating.

1:40:20That opens the door to a broad let's say,

1:40:26for lack of a better term,

1:40:27a broad stable of prospective investors in that.

1:40:31And so you should find an incremental appetite

1:40:39just by the AAA alone.

1:40:40So you've got a lot confirming investor confidence

1:40:46in the city's financial health and economic health.

1:40:50Thank you because it strikes me that often people think

1:40:52debt is a bad word.

1:40:54But what we're identifying here is that this is debt backed

1:40:59by a city or municipality that's been identified

1:41:03as being financially capable of backing the debt

1:41:07without problems.

1:41:09Absolutely.

1:41:10Okay.

1:41:11Now the other question for you

1:41:12and then I think the next are for city staff.

1:41:16The one concern that I do have,

1:41:18it's not much of a concern,

1:41:19but it does have to regrettably address issues

1:41:22so through the border.

1:41:24Is there any notion yet from anyone about the impact

1:41:29on debenture issues in a tariff climate?

1:41:36Again, through your worship to the counselor.

1:41:41The impact is going to be felt in the level

1:41:45of interest rates to start with.

1:41:48And one of the bases of your interest rate,

1:41:51of your cost of borrowing structure will be,

1:41:53first of all, there's a government of Canada yield.

1:41:57And then we layer on top of that province of Ontario

1:42:00where we dwell.

1:42:02And then the city's credit rating, it's a little bit more.

1:42:06So as what we're reading about in the paper day

1:42:10and in day out with the terrorists from,

1:42:13that have been threatened by Mr. Trump to the south of us,

1:42:17they are impacting the government of Canada yields.

1:42:21The city's credit strength and the component

1:42:29of your cost of borrowing that's affected

1:42:31by the city's credit strength hasn't changed.

1:42:33It's rock solid.

1:42:35It's what are the, you know,

1:42:38what is the government of Canada rates doing?

1:42:40If they go up because of threat of inflation,

1:42:43everybody's cost of borrowing is going to go up.

1:42:46If they go down because there's the concerns

1:42:51about the economy globally,

1:42:54and there's going to be a need

1:42:56for the federal government to drop rates,

1:42:59then everybody's going to enjoy a lower cost of borrowing.

1:43:02It will not really at this stand,

1:43:04as I speak right now, as we're chatting right now,

1:43:08it's not impacting your ability to come to market.

1:43:11There's a very robust appetite out there

1:43:14for quality Canadian municipal adventures.

1:43:19Thank you very much.

1:43:20I actually asked those because I generally knew the answer,

1:43:23but I think it's important for the public to hear that one.

1:43:26Through to our staff, the one curiosity that I have,

1:43:30do we have any indication of our debt issue percentage

1:43:37relative to other municipalities

1:43:40or is it just based on projects at a time?

1:43:44I noticed that we're, I think about 25%,

1:43:48we could be up to 55%,

1:43:50but I don't know what other communities

1:43:51actually are traditionally issuing.

1:43:56Through the mayor to councillor Alte,

1:43:58we do actually get information reporting

1:44:02through the financial information return,

1:44:04and I don't have that comparison handy right now,

1:44:07but we do get comparative information

1:44:11that we can share, certainly.

1:44:13That would be great if I just get it at some point.

1:44:15Appreciate it.

1:44:16Thanks very much to staff.

1:44:18Those are all my questions.

1:44:20Thank you.

1:44:21Are there any other follow-up questions

1:44:22before I call the vote?

1:44:25No?

1:44:26Okay, I only have one then.

1:44:29This is going to sound weird coming from me,

1:44:32but is there any strategy that's being thought of

1:44:37in regards to heavy infrastructure funding

1:44:43that may flow because of all the uncertainty

1:44:47that's happening from the provincial

1:44:49and the federal government,

1:44:52where we would, as a city, have to step up to the plate

1:44:57and potentially contribute to funding agreements

1:45:01with infrastructure funding that might flow,

1:45:03and is there the ability for us to manage that

1:45:10if that comes to fruition in the moment,

1:45:15or would you come back to us

1:45:18for those types of opportunities at that time?

1:45:21Sometimes these types of infrastructure funding

1:45:24opportunities come down like a third, a third,

1:45:26from the upper levels of government,

1:45:29and we have to show that we have funds

1:45:31to be able to move forward on a lot of things.

1:45:33So I just want to know the capacity that we currently have,

1:45:37or if we need to look at further debenture opportunities

1:45:41if those opportunities present themselves.

1:45:46Through the mayor, so we have a very ambitious capital plan

1:45:50laid out, and we have lots of infrastructure projects

1:45:53in there that we would love to have

1:45:56additional grant funding, or very low-cost lending,

1:46:01potentially, to move some of those things forward

1:46:03over the next several years.

1:46:05And so I think we would be looking,

1:46:08depending on what kind of funding opportunities

1:46:10become available, we would be looking to respond,

1:46:13examining what projects are already in our capital budget

1:46:16that we can move forward,

1:46:19and what that would mean in terms of potentially

1:46:21reprioritization, but we would definitely,

1:46:23I don't think it would,

1:46:25it certainly wouldn't exclude us from that

1:46:27by taking this step today.

1:46:29This is really an administrative step.

1:46:32The capital budget decision on the projects

1:46:36that the debt is being issued for

1:46:37was made several years ago,

1:46:39and so this is really just closing that loop.

1:46:43Okay, thank you.

1:46:44All right, just one extra comment.

1:46:46I just want to say thank you so much

1:46:47for the way you've presented this.

1:46:49It's like really held everyone's hands

1:46:51sort of through the process.

1:46:53To really understand it.

1:46:56I just want to give credit where credits do here as well.

1:46:59I'm talking 15 years ago or more, like more.

1:47:01Like 20 years ago, there's been steady financial decisions,

1:47:07policies that have been put into place,

1:47:10the right staff at the right time,

1:47:12to really manage through to this day.

1:47:15When you hear a third party person,

1:47:16such as Dave that was on the phone,

1:47:19and others that are here,

1:47:20and other consultants that you've talked to,

1:47:22outside credit agencies and such,

1:47:25continually praise the city for the steadiness

1:47:28and the financial maturity that we have.

1:47:32I just want to give credit to staff,

1:47:33especially where they've really brought us to this moment.

1:47:37So thank you very, very much for what you've done.

1:47:41And then finally, I just want to say the chart

1:47:43that was in the presentation there

1:47:45that outlined the DC funding portion.

1:47:48I just think that was really important to highlight.

1:47:50I think to this day,

1:47:51and my council colleagues will probably still agree,

1:47:54whenever you hear about large capital project numbers,

1:47:58people just automatically default.

1:48:00I don't blame them at all, by the way, to be like,

1:48:02oh my gosh, my property taxes are paying for,

1:48:06you know, $120 million South End Rec Center.

1:48:11And really, at the end of the day,

1:48:14it's actually like, you know,

1:48:1590% of that is paid for by development charges,

1:48:18approximately.

1:48:19So it's a very important thing to say,

1:48:24to have that column there that shows

1:48:27that it's not all just debt,

1:48:28all just interest and debt financing,

1:48:31and all on the backs of property taxpayers,

1:48:33and the burden is only put on them.

1:48:35It's just very good that you showed it

1:48:38in the way that you did with that chart.

1:48:39So thank you.

1:48:40I think we should all remind people of that a little bit

1:48:43when we hear some information that can float around

1:48:47out in the public realm a little bit on that.

1:48:48So with that, I will call the vote then,

1:48:52is anyone against?

1:48:55That's unanimous.

1:48:56Thank you very much.

1:48:57Appreciate that.