At their regular meeting Tuesday morning, Scurry County commissioners voted to refinance $9.3 million in bonds at a lower interest rate. The move should save the county about $517,000, according to a report from financial advisory firm Specialized Public Finance Inc. The opportunity comes as a result of Scurry County unexpectedly receiving an A+ rating from Standard and Poors.
Specialized’s Vince Vialle was on hand to present the plan to the commissioners.
“Standard and Poors is the agency that rates the county as far as the credit rating agency,” Vialle said. “We were concerned that we were going to get a downgrade from S&P. After conversations with S&P, a conference call with the judge, the county auditor and Standard and Poors’ analysts, giving them a lot of information and working through this, Standard and Poors came back and they actually confirmed our existing rating of A+, and lifted the negative outlook and changed that to ‘stable.’”
The brighter outlook should allow the county to refinance the bond from an interest rate ranging from 3.0 percent to 3.375 percent, to an interest rate of 2.593 percent.
“It’s very much like refinancing a mortgage,” Vialle said. “We’re just basically going from a higher interest rate bond issue to a lower interest rate bond issue.”
In other business, commissioners approved a resolution recognizing April as Child Abuse Awareness Month.
Commissioners also accepted a donation of land from the Edna Yonge estate, tabled an item relating to vendor locations in Towle Park during events, approved an amendment to the tax abatement agreement with Canyon Wind Farms LLC, and renewed a program through the Texas Association of Counties to provide reporting for the Affordable Care Act Reporting and Tracking Service.
Line item transfers
$1,500 from repairs to operating supplies at the Hermleigh Water Works.
$503 from fuel and oil to equipment less than $1,000 for Precinct 3. A computer at the Precinct 3 yard crashed.
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