Butler City Council looks to establish legacy trust
Butler City Council introduced a first reading of an ordinance on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to establish a trust for a portion of the Butler Area Sewer Authority sale proceeds.
City Ordinance No. 1832, if approved after a second reading in March, will establish the City of Butler Legacy Trust. The legacy trust fund will be managed through PNC Bank and hold $50 million of around $90 million the city received from the sale.
“We’ve worked really long and hard on this going back and forth and back and forth between attorneys and all the people at PNC and the Obermayer firm working with us to get this the way we want it,” Mayor Bob Dandoy said.
The ordinance was introduced just one month after the acceptance of a draft of a long range plan for BASA sale proceeds. The plan outlined $50 million to the LTF, $25 million to an investment fund and $15 million to be spent on capital improvement projects.
According to the accepted draft of the plan, $11.7 million out of $15 million total has been tentatively allocated. Between 2025 and 2029, the city expects to make improvements to parking, paving, sidewalks and more.
The plan also outlined expectations related to the LTF.
“By carefully developing an investment policy for these funds, the city will make every reasonable effort to not draw upon the LTF for the first three years of the long range plan’s execution, reinvesting the interest back into the fund,” the draft said.
The potential creation of the LTF is not the first action taken by the council. At the January meeting, council members unanimously approved the transfer of $32.5 million from the city’s NexTier Bank account to the City of Butler’s Fidelity Investment account.
The $32.5 million includes the planned $25 million alongside half of the capital improvement funds. The extra $7.5 million placed into the investment account can be withdrawn when needed.
The ordinance’s final approval will be voted at the next Butler City Council meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. March 27.
