The Longmont community will soon have the chance to decide how quickly they want ubiquitous FTTH. On July 23rd, the City Council unanimously approved a proposal to ask voters in a referendum if they want to bond for funds to speed up construction of the LPC fiber network. Absent bond financing, the network will expand much more slowly over many years.
Readers will remember the 2011 referendum to allow the electric utility to offer broadband services to the people and businesses of Longmont. At the time, Comcast spent over $300,000 via the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association to fund an unsuccessful Vote No astroturf campaign. The community approved the measure with 60% of the vote. There was an earlier referendum in 2009 that ended in a victory for Comcast following a successful astroturf campaign. Records showed a similar infusion of cash to sway the vote.
In the recent meeting, some Council Members expressed concern over the city bonding to invest in the telecom business. The Longmont Times Call reported on the meeting:
“We’re again a government playing in the private world of capitalism,” [Councilman Brian] Bagley said. “What if we don’t know what we’re doing?”
City Manager Harold Dominguez noted that even if voters approved a bond, the city could still take on a partner. If it passes, he said, the city would have a pretty good idea of how big a piece of the market it could get. And implementation wasn’t a huge risk, he said, because the city already knew it could provide the service; it had been doing so for itself, the school district and a few other large users for years.
“Based on the information we’ve received, yes, we can do it,” Dominguez said.
Finance Director Jim Golden outlined several options, including sales tax bonds, utility bonds, and certificates of participation, which use existing city assets as collateral. After discussion, Council agreed that the revenue bonds from the electric utility was the best option. If the voters approve the referendum, the City will bond a total of $44 million for capital costs ($35.4 million), interest, and debt-service reserve.
Plans are already set to bring FTTH to all of Longmont, the referendum will determine when residents can expect to connect to LPC. Councilman Gabe Santos commented:
With or without the bonding, he said, the voters had already given the city permission to get to work.
“If it doesn’t pass, we’re still going to roll it out,” he said. “It’s just going to take a long time. We have established the right to do this.”
You can watch the archived video of the July 23rd meeting from the City website. The Council took up several issues that night which are listed on the Index. Broadband financing was item D of General Business. Click on the heading and the video will jump to the discussion.