January 3, 2008
Commissioners Approve SID for Toquop

Photo by Dave Maxwell Scott Nash, JNA Financial, talking about board sales for Toquop SID

By Dave Maxwell

County Commissioners approved a proposed resolution at their December 17 meeting to create a Special Improvement District (SID) at the request of the developers in the Lincoln County Land Act, commonly referred to as Toquop. The request first came to the Commission in the early fall as a way of allowing the developers “to get things going.” At that time, County Building and Safety Director, Ken Dixon, introduced Scott Nash, Director of JNA Financial, of Henderson. He presented to Commission members the benefits of creating the SID needed to build the common on-site and off-site infrastructure at Toquop. JNA Financial will serve as the firm that will sell and manage the $100-150 million in bond sales to fund the project; the law firm of Swenseid and Stern will function as bond counsel for the County.

Having an SID, which is designed to do specific things, means that fewer bonds would have to be sold to pay for the construction of electric power lines from the planned coal-fired Sithe Global power plant near Mesquite. The land developers will pay for the construction of the infrastructure into Toquop and will usually base the amount assessed on the number of acres in their individual planned development. The per-acre assessment fee is determined by the County.

In time, a General Improvement District will need to be created that will step in and take care of the long-term maintenance of the infrastructure. However, it takes longer to get a GID formed, Dixon said, and in order to allow developers to begin to do something at Toquop, the SID was necessary. The SID is set up for a certain length of time, which Commissioner Wade Poulsen said, “is basically until the place is completely built out.” Decisions about the SID will still be in the hands of the LC Commissioners Poulsen said, “but we don’t have to do the housekeeping.”

Ronda Hornbeck, asked if a developer did not want to pay their portion of the assessed SID fees up front, could another developer step in and pay it for them and the two of them work out a later repayment plan? The answer is Yes. That would allow the infrastructure construction to be completed as a whole and “be made up and operational,” Poulsen said.

Toquop promises to make a major impact upon growth and development within Lincoln County.