Slidell voters will go to the polls Saturday to approve or disapprove a $10 million bond issue that city officials says is urgently needed for major drainage and street repairs.

Last June, the Slidell City Council asked for a feasibility study of needed infrastructure projects in the city and at the same time voted to hold the special election for the bond issue.

The $10 million would be general obligation bonds with a 20-year maturity, Finance Director Sharon Howes said. The bonds would be paid with 7.29 mills of the ad valorem property tax. Howes wanted to stress that there will be no increase in taxes to Slidell residents or property owners. The city recently paid off 2007 general obligation funds, so the millage to pay off the new bond issue will remain the same. “Technically, you could say this is a bond renewal, but it is not, because these are different bonds,” said Mayor Ben Morris. “But there will be no increase in taxes.”

Back in June, city engineer Donna O’Dell presented the council with a list of 46 street and drainage projects that had to be done. O’Dell said some of the street projects were so urgent that if not done, the streets would deteriorate, and repairing them would cost much more in the future. The majority of these critical projects were around Olde Towne and Fremaux Avenue.

“We have way more projects than we have money,” Howes said, explaining why the $10 million in bonds is needed.

Morris and Howes said they are hoping that grants they have applied for will help fund more of the street and drainage projects. There are 17 critical projects that need to be done and the price tag for those is $15.5 million. If all 46 projects were completed, the cost would be $38.6 million.

So Morris is hoping that some of the grants will be awarded and they will be able to supplement the bonds to get most of the projects finished.

He said he could not specify the amount of pending grants.

“If the grants come in, we will use most of them for the street projects, and the bonds can be used for the drainage projects,” Morris said.

He added until he knows the status of the grants, he does not know the ratio of grants to bond money that will be used on either street or drainage projects.

One piece of hopeful news on the bonds, said Howes, is that the bond market has opened up a little since the national recession is winding down.

She said that might mean the city would get a lower interest rate on the bonds, which means a lower debt service.

“The rates are market-driven, and the bond issue must pass before a final rate is determined,” Howes said.