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OFFICIAL BALLOT COUNTY OF INDIAN RIVER, FLORIDA BOND REFERENDUM ELECTION — NOVEMBER 8, 2022 ACQUIRE LANDS TO PROTECT WATER RESOURCES, THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON, NATURAL AREAS, AND WILDLIFE HABITAT To acquire and permanently preserve environmentally significant lands to restore the Indian River Lagoon, protect water resources, natural areas, wildlife habitat, drinking water resources, and construct public access improvements related thereto, shall Indian River County be authorized to issue general obligation bonds up to $50,000,000, maturing within 20 years from each issuance, not exceeding the legal maximum interest rate, payable from ad valorem taxes, with full public disclosure of all spending through annual independent audits? For Bonds Against Bonds The resolution also commits the County to revise the Environmental Lands Program Guide to provide criteria and guidelines for the purposes of the Projects prior to the 2022 Referendum. The existing Environmental Lands Program Guide is attached. This will need to be updated to remove historic properties and make other adjustments as necessary. The Board will also need to consider another policy issue regarding the process to determine which properties to prioritize for acquisition. For the two prior authorizations (1992 and 2004), the County had a Land Acquisition Advisory Committee (LAAC) formed under Resolution No. 2003-130. County staff and the supporters agree that the previous structure may not be the best option moving forward, however, staff believes that there should still be a process to help prioritize the funding of particular properties. The LAAC consisted of 18 members (Reference Resolutions No. 2003-130; No. 2005-120), which resulted in some inefficiencies in moving through the process of acquisition. For instance, the first bond authorization in 1992 led to the issuance of the 1995 Series Bonds in the amount of $15 million. These funds were not exhausted for six (6) years, at which time the remaining $11 million authorization was issued in 2001. Staff would recommend a more streamlined structure, which could be a smaller advisory committee or a process for presenting a ranking of properties to the Board of County Commissioners for approval. Funding Staff has worked with Hilltop Securities, the County's Financial Advisor, to determine the estimated debt service and millage that would be needed to support a $50 million bond issue financed over a 20 -year term with a level annual debt service. The projection, based upon market rates as of February 17, 2022, would equate to a 2.49% all -in true interest rate. An additional 1% was added to the current rate due to the fact that interest rates are generally expected to increase over the next year. It is important to note that the actual interest rate may be higher than this once the bonds are issued, assuming approval of the referendum in November 2022. The analysis also assumes a 3% increase in the taxroll, which staff believes is a relatively conservative assumption. It should also be noted that we anticipate splitting the $50 million authorization into two separate issuances. Municipal issuers are required to certify that we expect to expend all of the proceeds of a bond issuance within three (3) years of the date of issuance. Staff believes that it will be necessary to have a second issuance due to the time that it may take to acquire all of the property, conduct any necessary restoration, and design and construct any initial improvements on the properties which may exceed the three-year time period. Therefore, 64