"We're certainly pleased council approved the arrangement we have with the Port Authority," says Deputy Mayor of Operations Steve Herwat.
Herwat says this is a $15 million deal that has been in the works for months.
However, once the transaction is complete, the city would need to first pay off nearly $10 million in outstanding debt.
One council member says a portion of what's left should go towards rebuilding the city's depleted rainy day fund.
"If the sale does go through, we need to allocate a portion, five to ten percent of the net proceeds after bonds are paid off, to the budget stabilization fund," says Toledo City Councilman George Sarantou (R - At-Large). "It's very important to Wall Street that we start to re-build that fund."
Herwat says it's not a done deal yet, but within the next three to four months the Bell Administration should finalize the sale of three parking garages to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.
Those are the Vistula, Superior, and Port Lawrence parking garages, all located downtown.
"The Port Authority is our partners," says Herwat. "They are going to be taking over the operation and maintenance of the garages. There will be up front revenue coming to the City of Toledo, plus a stream of revenue over the years."
Herwat says the city would get approximately $15 million for the parking garages, but $9.8 million in bonds would need to be paid off first.
"It's going to be somewhere slightly shy of five million is what the city would realize on this," says Herwat.
Any deal the city makes involving the parking garages would also involve turning over the operations of the downtown parking meters to the Port Authority as well. That portion, however, would be in the form of a franchise agreement.
"I think this was a very creative solution in terms of helping our city, our downtown area, and I applaud their endeavors," says Toledo City Councilman Adam Martinez (D - At-Large). "I certainly support this 110 percent."
"What they're bringing to the table is definitely a huge improvement for the City of Toledo, but it also benefits the citizens and taxpayers of the city in the long run," says Toledo City Councilman Rob Ludeman (R - At-Large)
To help pay for the purchase, city leaders say the Port Authority is working to obtain an up to $10 million loan from a special fund set up by the state: the Ohio Department of Transportation State Infrastructure Bank Bond Fund.
