Officials with the City of Annapolis said this week that over the last seven years, the city has left millions in bond money unspent while continuing to issue new bonds for capital projects.

A hodgepodge of earned bond interest and premiums, capital project leftovers and money orphaned by changing plans, the unspent cash totals about $5.4 million, officials said.

The City Council on Monday night considered reallocating those funds to other city projects, including radio replacement, traffic signal rehabilitation and water and sewer fixes.

City Manager Teresa Sutherland said she couldn’t explain why the city didn’t spend the bond funding within the three years required.

Former Mayor Mike Pantelides said the Financial Advisory Commission raised unspent bond funds as an issue of Mayor Josh Cohen’s administration and led his own administration to pursue fewer bonds.

Alderman Ross Arnett, who chairs the Finance Committee, said the city has periodically addressed and reallocated unspent funds, but the problem hasn’t always been a priority. “I think it’s a management problem,” he said. “I think it’s because we keep planning and approving projects and they don’t get done.”

From as far back as fiscal 2011, the city left $369,411.24 in money from bond investments and premiums unspent. Then there’s $130,181 unused for City Hall renovations and $5,625.24 from parking meter replacements.

About $1.4 million comes from an unworkable portion of the city’s 2016 energy efficiency contract with Honeywell. The company had planned to purchase city utility poles from BGE at a depreciated price, then replace lights with energy efficient bulbs, but BGE valued the poles at a higher rate than expected.

The biggest chunk — $3.5 million — comes from the $5.8 million in bond funding for a new public works facility. Mayor Gavin Buckley put a hold on relocating the facility, as he saw the redevelopment as an opportunity to get some new pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

Buckley is in talks with Bozzuto, a Maryland real estate company, to execute a land swap to relocate the public works facility. The Spa Road location is worth significantly more money, so Buckley’s goal is to obligate Bozzutto to use that money for a public infrastructure project.

The city has already used about $1.5 million of the bonds and will be retaining $848,131.16 to put toward any related work during fiscal 2019.

All that depends on another bill the council postponed voting on Monday night. A school adequate public facilities bill introduced in January would effectively shutter Annapolis to development in hopes of preventing overcrowding in schools. The legislation would stop any residential development feeding schools that would reach 95 percent capacity within three years.

Alderwoman Elly Tierney, a Ward 1 Democrat, and Buckley proposed postponing the vote until city officials could consult with newly elected county and state officials.

Sutherland detailed discrepancies between the proposed city bill and established county code. “I will add that … if one jurisdiction’s law is more restrictive than the other, it creates winners and losers,” she said. “It means we won’t be able to develop — and they will. And when they develop, that’s going to take those seats at the county schools.”

The council will again consider the legislation in February.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, Paul Jacobs, president of the Annapolis Boat Shows, presented the city with a check for $447,190 for the use of City Dock and Ego Alley.

Jacobs urged the council to act on nuisance flooding, which he called “catastrophic” and said has significantly hampered set-up for the downtown shows.

dohl@capgaznews.com