The county managed to refinance some bond debt at a lower cost.
Frederick, Md (KM) Last week’s reaffirmation of Frederick County’s triple-a bond rating from all three of the major bond rating agencies paid off recently. Officials say the county received more than $4.6-million dollars in savings in refinancing its bond debt, and that’s over a million dollars more in savings.
“Today’s negotiated sale of bond went much better than anticipated, resulting in millions of dollars in savings for the taxpayer” said County Executive Jan Gardner, in a statement. “Good things are happening in Frederick County, as our conservative budgeting and vibrant economy has set us on a path for a very bright future with more schools, roads, libraries and parks all at considerable savings.”
In that same statement, officials say the county used a negotiated sale with a syndicate of J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc, and M&T Securities, Inc., to issue $73,865,000 in tax exempt Refunding bonds. The True Interest Cost on the issuance was 2.308%, for a percentage savings of 5.203%.
County officials go on to say the debt service savings over the term of the bonds is $4,648,451. The county’s initial projection for debt service savings was $3,575,201. The actual savings were $1,073,250 higher than originally projected.
In 2016, Moodys Investor Service, Fitch and Standard and Poor’s each gave Frederick County’s bond rating a AAA, one of the few in the country to receive this rating.
By Kevin McManus