The Cullman City Council approved to pledge a portion of its half-cent sales tax to the Cullman City School District Monday, Oct. 28, which will allow the school board to obtain a supplemental bond to complete two major capital improvement projects.

The ordinance, which was introduced to the council last week, does not introduce any new taxes to residents in the city of Cullman. It does, however, ratify that a portion of the city’s existing ad valorem and sales taxes will be allocated to the board for the duration of a $2 million bond which officials representing the board projected to be between seven and eight years.

Kane Burnette, a partner with Bradley Law Firm who specializes in serving as bond counsel for public entities and corporations, explained to the council during the Oct. 21 work session that the board had reached its borrowing limit against the city’s 7.5 mil ad valorem tax and its portion of the Cullman County sales tax with a $30 million, 30-year bond for the completion of Cullman Intermediate School and an additional 16-classroom career tech/STEM wing at Cullman High School. Construction for both projects is expected to begin in early 2025.

While the city has historically budgeted this portion of its taxes for educational purposes, council president Jenny Folsom said it had never officially pledged them, which Burnette said was needed to reassure bond holders of a guaranteed revenue stream through the duration of the loan.

“This is something that we do, but it needs to be put into writing,” Folsom said.

The council also approved tax abatements for three industrial projects, but confirmed that those abatements would not include any taxes allocated for educational purposes.

The first abatement was for a $1,050,000 investment from PGI Holdings to upgrade the facility acquired in the company’s recent purchase of Modernistic Printers.

Schulte Building Systems requested to amend and extend its previous abatement agreement with the city after it upped its capital investment by nearly $700,000 to $4 million.

The final, and largest abatement approved by the council was for a $43 million equipment purchase by Rehau to accommodate a new contract to manufacture parts for a new Mercedes SUV. Folsom said the contract is projected to retain around 60 jobs at Rehau.

In other business the council:

— Awarded a bid for a 4 wheel drive, crew cab work truck to Mitch Smith Chevrolet for $51,250.

— Rezoned property located at 916 Parker Ave. SW from R-3 to R-2 residential. Councilman Clint Hollingsworth abstained from the vote because he said the property owner was his neighbor and his wife is the real estate agent listing the property.

— Annexed property owned by Pioneer Land Acquisitions located on Highway 31 and County Road 715 as B-2 business.

— Adopted an electronic records management policy which would allow digital signatures to be accepted.

— Vacated and surplussed a potion of Lot 1, Block 5 of the Ratliff Hancock subdivision, Bauers Addition.