This article is part of a series spotlighting The Bond Buyer’s ten 2020 Deal of the Year award winners, running from December 9 through 15. One of these honorees will be chosen as our national Deal of the Year at a virtual event taking place December 16. For more information on the Deal of the Year winners and how to obtain a complimentary pass for the virtual event, click
Four small counties in the Mountain West faced a challenge that would have been daunting to tackle alone.
Each is in charge of its own solid waste system and the associated landfill that takes in the solid waste.
Each faces many challenges with their landfill; including litter control, scavengers, escaping gases, potential groundwater contamination and regulatory compliance challenges.
Their resources aren't large: together, the four jurisdictions total a bit more than 35,000 residents.
The ultimate solution: Bear Lake County, Caribou County, and Oneida County, in Idaho, and Lincoln County, Wyoming, banded together to build a bond-financed lined regional landfill. The deal is being honored as The Bond Buyer's Deal of the Year in the Small Issuer category.
To do so required creation of a new issuer: the Idawy Solid Waste District, which priced $22.6 million of revenue bonds in July.
The door to the municipal bond market was opened through a U.S. Bank community banker in the area, said Scott Nagelson, who led the deal as a managing director for undewriter U.S. Bancorp.
"We were dealing with people who are not used to borrowing money in the capital markets," he said. "It was a real pleasure to introduce them not just to U.S. Bank but the municipal bond market and go over the entire process from soup to nuts. It was very rewarding."
The debt is funding a complex endeavor.
"It's probably the most satisfying bond issue I have ever put together," said Stephanie Bonney, shareholder at MSBT Law in Boise, bond and disclosure counsel for the deal.
The bond proceeds are being used to buy land, pay for permits, and master-plan the facility, which includes an engineered containment system, access road, fencing, gates, support structure and groundwater monitoring wells.
The deal also funds a debt service reserve and set-asides for future closure and post-closure costs.
In each of the four counties, the funds will also cover transfer stations, which include scales, loading ramps, maintenance buildings, groundwater monitoring wells, stormwater collection systems, and power supplies.
Nagelson said his last pre-pandemic business trip was to Idaho to launch the Idawy deal process.
"I worked on this deal literally from my garage office from March until we priced in July," he said. "I'm very proud we were able to deliver a really cost-effective solution to them in the middle of a pandemic."
The first-time issuer secured S&P Global Ratings’ A-minus rating.
"We are working with a brand-new entity, and a new financing for the state," Bonney said.
"We hadn't actually had a solid waste district bond before," she said. "Everyone was fairly new to this."
The bonds are secured by the solid waste district’s power to pledge all of its fees and revenues from any source — the primary source being annual payment from each of the four member counties. They are not secured by tipping fees or any other project revenues.
The deal shows the way for other jurisdictions seeking cost-effective means of tackling a growing problem of antiquated and expensive solid waste facilities in a fast-growing state.
"It's really provided a template to show it can be done and does work," Bonney said.
The district also had to navigate the additional complexity of setting up a district and financing structure that crossed state lines.
"Part of the trick, of course, was to bring in the Wyoming county," Bonney said. "That added a little bit of a wrinkle and continues to add wrinkles."
Skinner Fawcett was underwriters counsel.
