Two street improvement projects slated for the city’s northwest were removed from the back burner Monday after city councilors approved a funding plan that puts both on the “fast track.”

The decision to issue bonds secured by revenue from a sales tax dedicated to the city’s long-range streets plan will provide immediate access to almost $10.65 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund the South York Street widening project and improvements to Martin Luther King and North 24th streets.

A committee that oversees the city’s long-range street improvements program identified South York Street as its priority project. Because funds were directed toward South York Street, the northwest Muskogee projects were put on hold once most of the design work was completed.

“Both projects are relatively complete as far as design goes, but they’ve been sitting there on the table,” Public Works director Mike Stewart said about the Martin Luther King and 24th street projects. “As long as we get them back on the fast track, it shouldn’t take long before we see some work out there.”

Stewart said he anticipates having those two projects bid out and work started by the end of the year. The construction timeline, he said, could be “pretty much in line with York Street” instead of the extra three or four years it could have taken.

The resolution approved Monday by city councilors authorizes the Muskogee Municipal Authority to incur the $10.645 million debt. The debt will be repaid by pledging a little more than half of the annual revenue collected from a quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2009.

City Manager Greg Buckley said the dedicated tax brings in about $1.5 million annually. Even with annual payments ranging from $838,000 to $868,000, the city will have another half-million dollars or more to fund smaller street projects.

Rick Smith of Municipal Finance Services Inc. said the original plan was to issue one note this year to fund the York Street project and a second one next year for the other projects. That changed this past week when he learned banks were willing to issue a single, larger note at a fixed rate of 2.55 percent, a point and a half less than originally anticipated.

Mayor Bob Coburn lauded the funding plan, describing the ability to move forward with all three projects “a great day in Muskogee.”

Smith said revenue from the issuance of the 15-year bond will be available Aug. 2. The funding will come as the projected costs of the three major street projects have continued to climb.

When planning began in 2010. The projected cost of widening York Street at that time was expected to be about $4.5 million. The projected cost of the project now exceeds $6 million.

Original engineers’ estimates for 24th Street improvements in August 2010 totaled $2 million. The estimated cost of that project 10 months ago grew to about $3.25 million. The Martin Luther King Street project grew from a projected cost of $1.5 million to $4 million during that time frame.

Documents provided by Smith show about $4.5 million of the $10.65 million received from issuing the bond will be dedicated to South York Street. The remaining $6 million will be directed to the other two projects.

Reach D.E. Smoot at (918) 684-2901 or dsmoot

@muskogeephoenix.com.