Thanks to sound financial management practices, the city of Worthington is getting a good deal on bond sales.
The Worthington City Council on Monday night acted to issue and sell $5.14 million in general obligation tax sales bonds and $4.09 million in general obligation improvement bonds. These bonds pertain to the reimbursement of sales tax revenue expenses for the recent aquatic center project.
Rebecca Kurtz of Ehlers & Associates told the council Monday that Standard & Poor's had awarded the city a double-a-minus rating for its Series 2023A and Series 2023B bonds. She said the rating was "clearly a testament to the staff at the city to what they've done ... and the council" and added that, as a result, the city was able to receive both a premium bid while also keeping its previously stated goal of having yearly debt service payments of $600,000. A premium bid means more money than what was needed on the bond issue was received.
Northland Securities presented the lowest of eight bids for both bonds. The interest rate for the tax sales bond is 3.69% -- compared to the 4.4% rate that was expected -- and the rate for the improvement bonds is 3.91%.
