Saratoga Springs' City Hall and library: building authority spending and payments

Saratoga Springs built its new City Hall and library through the Saratoga Springs Municipal Building Authority, a separate entity governed by the City Council. The authority uses lease revenue bond proceeds to acquire capital assets for the city, and the bonds are to be retired through the city's lease payments, according to the city's audited report for fiscal 2025. ^[1]

That report listed the City Hall/library at an estimated $32.0 million, with construction in progress. ^[1]

Fiscal 2025

In the year that ended June 30, 2025, the building authority reported $24,819,443 in capital expenditures, $435,000 in principal payments and $2,766,880 in interest and fiscal charges. It received $3,200,000 in transfers in and $1,655,735 in investment earnings. ^[1]

Its fund balance fell by $23,165,588, to $14,238,429. The report's management discussion attributes the decrease in the city's combined governmental fund balance to decreased restricted cash in the building authority fund. ^[1]

The same discussion says long-term debt for governmental activities rose by $5.8 million, which it attributes to the 2024 lease revenue bond. ^[1]

Note 11 of the report describes the authority's debt as $40,000,000 in Series 2023 Lease Revenue Bonds, issued Nov. 29, 2023 to finance acquiring and constructing a new city building. The management discussion elsewhere in the report calls it the 2024 lease revenue bond. ^[5][1]

The authority's budgets

At a May 5, 2026 meeting, the authority's trustees took up a tentative 2026-27 budget. The packet lists $3,800,000 for debt service in fiscal 2027, up from $3,210,000 in the fiscal 2026 adjusted budget. The resolution copy in the packet is unsigned. ^[2]

The same packet lists fiscal 2025 actual capital project spending of $23,407,859, and $13,682,231 of capital spending in the fiscal 2026 adjusted budget. Minutes from the authority's May 6, 2025 meeting, included in the packet, quote staff saying its budget "is for payments on the bond for the new City Hall building." ^[2]

The council's Aug. 11, 2026 packet also lists $3,800,000 in authority debt service for fiscal 2027. Its fiscal 2026 adjusted budget column for the authority lists $3,210,000 in debt service and no capital spending. ^[3]

In use

A library notice posted Jan. 9, 2026 says the library opened in its new space on Jan. 5, 2026, on the first floor of the new City Hall at 319 S. Saratoga Road. The city's 2026 report says the city celebrated City Hall's opening in December 2025 and that the library officially opened in the first week of 2026. ^[6][7]

The city's adopted 2026-27 budget says library usage has increased dramatically since the library moved into its new facility. It lists a 2024 bond for a new City Hall/Library among the city's bonds, and its debt chart refers to a 2023 lease revenue bond. ^[4]