The Jefferson County Board Friday approved a measure to re-finance a portion of its jail bonds.
The partial re-financing may help the county secure a lower interest rate and save about $300,000 over the life of the bond. It will not extend the debt or affect the schedule of repayment.
"I think it's a very good idea to do this at this point in time," said County Board Chairman Steve Draege, later adding, "It's going to be a lower interest rate and not extend the length of the term of the bonds."
The County Board had approved the re-financing at its regular meeting Monday. However, State's Attorney Sean Featherstun recommended the board rescind that vote because the meeting's agenda did not indicate a vote would be taken on the bond measure.
The agenda item stated there would be a presentation from Bernardi Securities, the bond underwriter, on "alternative revenue bonds/interest rate decrease."
"A member of the public looking at the agenda would expect a presentation from Bernardi Securities on the bonds, but not a vote," Featherstun said.
The board rescinded the vote Monday and set a special meeting for Friday to approve the bond re-financing. The measure received unanimous approval at Friday's brief meeting.
The re-financing will affect $5,050,000 or roughly half of the county's outstanding debt from two bond issuances in 2003. The issuances were used to fund construction of the Justice Center and only one is now eligible for re-financing. The other half of the issuance can't be re-financed until 2019.
Bernardi Securities reported last week the county might be able to secure an interest rate of 3 1/4 percent with the re-financing, which could save them $20,000 to $25,000 a year on payments. The exact figures will depend on what the rates are when the county locks them in, likely to happen in mid-July.
The jail bonds are still set to be paid off in 2034.
