Scurry County Commissioners heard two presentations regarding potential refinancing of the county’s jail bonds at their meeting today.
The presentations came from financial advisor firm D.A. Davidson of Nevada, and the county’s current financial advisor Specialized Public Finance Inc., headquartered in Austin. Davidson’s presentation, made by Senior Vice President Steve Perry, suggested refinancing the county’s jail bond at a lower interest rate, reducing the overall payment by about $638,500 over a 20-year period.
“Interest rates are very low. Within the last couple of months, we’ve hit all-time lows in interest rates. August of this year, we hit the lowest ever borrowing cost we’ve had for any municipality, county, city, school district,” Perry said. “It’s a favorable environment for those who want to save money by refinancing.”
Vince Viaille, a managing director for Specialized Public Finance, spoke after Perry finished. He addressed the fact that Scurry County’s credit rating is currently trending downward.
“In 2018 we had a AA- credit rating. That’s a very good credit rating,” Viaille said. “S&P came and they lowered our credit rating to A+. Standard and Poor said there is a possibility they’re going to come back and look at dinging us again on the credit rating if we can’t get our fund balance back up. We’ve been on negative watch from Standard and Poor’s since then. My professional opinion, I think we’re going to get dinged again from S&P, probably from an A+ to an A.”
Viaille went on to say that the lower credit rating means that the county would pay a higher credit rating than it would with the A+ rating, a situation which could invalidate Davidson’s refinancing plan. Commissioners took no action on the issue during the meeting.