All posts in the topic Good time for bond issue (Short link)

Sep 29 13:10 UTC

Last week -- there was a message about whether or not this was a good time
for the City's bond issues because of the credit crunch.  I asked the city
that questions and they said the sale of Municipal Bonds were safe
investments that would save the city $30 million. Projects would depend on
city revenues.

If the City's stream of income tax receipts is lower because of an
economic downturn, the City spends less on capital projects.  The Mayor
slows proposed projects and Auditor Dorrian won't certify the sale of bonds
unless there is revenue to pay the debt.  The vote gives the City the
"permission" to sell bonds, but each project's bond is sold seperately,
so there is a check and balance for each individual project.  The City only
sells bonds 1 or 2 times a year, and if the revenue projections are not
good, the sale is postponed or made smaller.  This means it may take
Columbus more than 5 years to spend all the authority provided by the voted
bond package.

Regardless of when the project moves forward and the bonds are sold, the
voted bond package makes it cheaper for the City (lower interest rates) to
sell the bonds whenever it has enough income tax money to pay the
debt service.  In the 2008 proposal, Columbus estimates that it will save
nearly $30 million based on these lower interest rates.

Historically, City Muni bonds from Columbus are among the safest
investments... The record is clear and The City  has not lost a voted bond
package since the 1950s based on this conservative spending model.

All posts in the topic Good time for bond issue (Short link)

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