{"id":267,"date":"2012-12-11T12:32:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/refinancing-bonds-and-the-public-facilities-authority-lcc-2012-12-10.html"},"modified":"2012-12-11T12:32:22","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:32:22","slug":"refinancing-bonds-and-the-public-facilities-authority-lcc-2012-12-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/refinancing-bonds-and-the-public-facilities-authority-lcc-2012-12-10.html","title":{"rendered":"Refinancing Bonds and the Public Facilities Authority @ LCC 2012-12-10"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\n<\/a>\nMore than a million dollars will be saved by refinancing county bonds,\nthe Chairman and staff indicated at\nyesterday morning’s\n\nLowndes County Commission Work Session<\/a>.\nCongratulations!\nBut who is this shadowy Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority\nthat is responsible for that?\n<\/p>\n

\n8.i. Refunding Revenue Bonds\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nCounty Manager Joe Pritchard said\nthe county was refinancing two bond packages, for the\nPublic Facilities Authority\nand for the\nCentral Valdosta Development Authority.\nCounty Attorney Walter Elliott said the\nPublic Facilities Authority was meeting 4PM tomorrow (now today 11 Dec 2012)\nto approve an ordinance similar to what the County Commission was\nbeing asked to approve Tuesday night.\nThere’s also a purchase agreement with the underwriter,\nin the packet only the board gets to see.\nChairman Ashley Paulk said he spoke Friday to somebody named Mr.\nBucky Kensey(?) who wouldn’t tell him a number but said the\nbond market had moved in the county’s favor.\nThe Chairman also said:\n<\/p>\n

\nI want the public to understand these are not new bonds\nthese are old bonds that are at a higher interest rate\nthat are going to be refinanced at a lower rate,\nand I believe the last savings was close to a million dollars.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThe Chairman indicated Mr. Kensey(?) thought there would be a pleasant\nsurprise with even more savings than that.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAt their\n\n12 June 2012 Regular Session<\/a>\nthe Commission\n\nappointed to the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority<\/a>\nJoseph Stevens (they didn’t say, but maybe\n\nJoseph G Stevens CPA<\/a>),\nSteve Gupton (presumably\n\nJ. Stephen Gupton, Attorney for the Lowndes County Industrial Authority<\/a>),\nand Lowndes County Commissioner Crawford Powell (to the seat\npreviously held by Commissioner Richard Lee).\nWho are the other Authority board members?\nThe VDT claimed\n\n“Powell abstained from the vote.”<\/a>\nNeither he nor the Chairman said that when they voted.\nAccording to\n\nthe Commission’s minutes of 25 May 2010,<\/a>\nthey appointed Harry B. Sullivan and Antonio Henderson.\nThe VDT reported\n\n22 May 2007<\/a> that:\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Commissioners reappointed Antonio Henderson and Harry Sullivan\nto the Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority. Their terms will\nexpire May 31, 2010. Joseph Stevens was appointed, and his term will\nexpire May 31, 2009.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSo that’s five members; is that all of them?\nApparently yes.\nIn\n\nPreliminary Official Statement Dated November 29, 2012<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\nLOWNDES COUNTY PUBLIC FACILITIES AUTHORITY (GEORGIA)\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n$8,965,000*\n
\nRefunding Revenue Bonds\n
\n(Lowndes County Judicial\/Administration Complex)\n
\nSeries 2012\n<\/td>\n		\n$7,145,000*\n
\nRefunding Revenue Bonds\n
\n(Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project)\n
\nSeries 2013\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSo, we’re paying more for the county palace than we are for county water and sewer.\nAnyway, on page 4 we find:\n<\/p>\n

\nLOWNDES COUNTY PUBLIC FACILITIES AUTHORITY\n
\nMembers\n
\nAntonio Henderson\n
\nHarry B. Sullivan\n
\nJ. Stephen Gupton, Jr.\n
\nJoseph G. Stevens\n
\nCrawford Powell\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThat Authority met\n\n8 October 2012 in Room 248 at the\nLowndes County Administrative Building<\/a> (no street address given):\n<\/p>\n

\nThe primary purpose of the meeting is for the Authority to consider\na Bond Resolution to provide for the issuance of Refunding Revenue\nBonds for the purpose of refunding in part Public Facilities Authority\nRevenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project), Series 2005,\nand Central Valdosta Development Authority Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County\nJudicial\/Administrative Complex), Series 2003, to authorize and approve\nthe execution and delivery of an Intergovernmental Contract with Lowndes\nCounty, and related purposes. The meeting will be open to the public in\naccordance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nThey do not<\/em> have a meeting listed\n\nin the same calendar for today.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nBond rating agency Moody’s\n\nreported 15 November 2012<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nNEW YORK, November 15, 2012 \u2014Moody’s Investors Service has\nassigned a Aa2 rating and a stable outlook to Lowndes County’s (GA)\n$9.1 million Refunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County\nJudicial\/Administration Complex), Series 2012 and $7.2 million\nRefunding Revenue Bonds (Lowndes County Water and Sewerage Project),\nSeries 2013, both issued by the\nLowndes County Public Facilities Authority.\nAt this time, Moody’s has also affirmed the Aa2 ratings\nto $15.5 million of general obligation bonds and $193.7 million of\nbonds issued through the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes\nCounty, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, the\nCentral Valdosta Development Authority and the Lowndes County Public\nFacilities Authority…\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nYou know, the county could just tell us all this stuff, so we wouldn’t\nhave to try to google it.\nIt is our tax money they are spending, after all.\n<\/p>\n

\nHere’s\n\nthe video:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

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