LONGMONT — How do you pay for citywide fiber?

That’s the question on tap tonight for the Longmont City Council. The city plans to make its high-speed fiber-optic loop available to every home that wants it and to do the buildout in three years.

But that rapid rollout can’t happen if the city has to wait for the first customers to pay enough to bring the next ones online, a pay-as-you-go method that broadband services manager Vince Jordan sometimes calls “the 40-year plan.”

“We’ll do what we can with what we’ve got right now, but it’s very limited and very slow,” Jordan said.

How do you speed it up? Borrow. The project is now estimated at about $35.4 million to build, or $44 million with interest, reserves and issuance costs. To get there, city staffers are looking at three options.

Certificate of Participation

If you go Longmont City Council What: Discussion of how to fund a three-year rollout of Longmont’s citywide fiber-optic network. When: 7 p.m. today. The item is the last discussion on the agenda. Where: Council chambers, 350 Kimbark St.

To finance director Jim Golden, COPs are lease-purchasing on a big scale. The idea is one any homeowner could understand — borrow money by putting up enough collateral.

Like, say, city hall.

“With a certificate of participation, what the investors are looking at is … how essential it is to the community,” Golden said. “You’re not just going to walk away from (the debt) and just say goodbye to the Safety and Justice Center or the Recreation Center.”

COPs have the advantage of being flexible. They don’t require a community vote, and they get reauthorized by the council every year instead of locking the city in for a 10- or 20-year bond period. But because of that, the certificates also tend to be rated lower than a similar bond would; the difference, say, between an A-plus and an AA-minus.

In addition, Longmont already plans to use COPs to cover its $27.5 million investment in the Twin Peaks Mall redevelopment. Stacking more certificates on that could lower investor expectations a little because there are only so many essential city buildings out there to secure the funds.

“It may not be as interesting to investors to put the parks and maintenance building on as collateral,” Golden said.

Sales tax bonds

Longmont could issue bonds, securing them with existing sales and use tax. Right now, the city has a tax rate of 3.275 percent; of that rate, 2 percentage points are not earmarked for something else and could be used to repay the bonds if revenue from the broadband utility fell short.

It’s a traditional method for big projects and would likely get some response from investors; Golden estimates the rating would be AA.

However, timing becomes crucial. Because it uses tax money, it would have to be approved by voters at a November general election. Most likely this November — when the city already plans to have a $28 million sewer project on the ballot.

“With both of these bond issues, it’s pretty crucial timing-wise that we move as soon as we can,” Golden said. “Both of them, the sooner the better.”

The council would have to decide on a ballot issue before the end of August; Golden said Aug. 14 would be the most likely date.

Utility bonds

A utility revenue bond is the same idea, but a different source — have the revenue from Longmont Power & Communications hold down the debt. It’s also a unique source in that the electric utility has never issued bonds.

“It’s been all cash-driven,” Golden said.

Voters would have to approve this one, too, but there’s a little more flexibility as to when. Unlike a tax-supported bond issue, utility bonds can be approved at a special election.

The staff has not recommended any particular option, leaving it to the council. Whichever way the council chooses, Jordan said, he has no doubts about the power of a citywide fiber service to pay the costs back quickly.

“The demand is there, certainly,” he said.

Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com.