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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/29/1988SPECIAL MEETING Tuesday, November 29, 1988 The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County, Florida, met in Special Session at the County Commission • Chambers, 1840 25th Street, Vero Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, November 29, 1988, at 9:00 o'clock A.M. Present were Don C. Scurlock, Jr., Chairman; Gary C. Wheeler, Vice Chairman; Richard N. Bird; Margaret C. Bowman; and Carolyn K. Eggert. Also present were William G. Collins, I1, Acting County Administrator; Charles P. Vitunac, Attorney to the Board of County Commissioners; Joseph Baird, OMB Director; and Barbara Bonnah, Deputy Clerk. The Chairman called the meeting to order. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA/EMERGENCY ITEMS Commissioner Eggert asked if it was possible to add a discussion on holding a referendum on an additional 1t sales tax to fund capital projects, and Attorney Vitunac advised that an item could be added if it was an emergency. Commissioner Eggert explained that the nature of the emergency is to give sufficient notice to the Supervisor of Elections that a referendum will be on the ballot for the election in March, 1989. NOV 2 9 1999 ON MOTION by Commissioner Eggert, SECONDED by Commissioner Bowman, the Board unanimously added the above item to today's Agenda. BOOK 750.:E:247 F,1;;c ,� REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION FOR BOARD TO EXECUTE PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND AWARD OF NOTES FOR PURCHASE OF NORTH BEACH WATER COMPANY Attorney Vitunac gave a brief recount of the events leading up to today's request for authorization to award bond anticipation notes to fund the purchase of North Beach Water Company. On August 1, 1988, the County purchased the North Beach Water Company for $3.1 million with cash on hand from the Utilities Department. On November 8, 1988, the County passed Resolution 88-120, authorizing the sale of bond anticipation notes to borrow from the financial community the $3.1 million and give it back to Utilities Dept. The sate of the notes took place yesterday and consultants are here today to explain the outcome. Before the Board today is a resolution authorizing the Chairman to execute the Note Purchase Agreement by which we enter into an agreement with the underwriters. There are 3 attachments to the resolution which the Board does not have before them: Exhibit A, a 20 -page Note Purchase Agreement; Exhibit B, a 30 -page Preliminary Official Statement dated 11/28/88; and Exhibit C, a 4 -page comfort letter from Prescott, Bali & Turben, Inc. (PBT). Financial adviser Art Diamond explained that we went to bond anticipation notes because of a shift in position by the FmHA with regard to their lien on the revenues of the water and sewer system. PBT proposed going to bond anticipation notes, the security for which is simply a pledge of a future permanent bond issue rather than revenues of the system. He reported that $3.9 million worth of anticipation notes were sold on the New York bond market yesterday. Despite the competition from another bond issue of up to $125 million from South Carolina, Indian River County came out with a percentage rate of 6-7/8. Art Ziev of Prescott, Bali & Turben (PBT), the underwriters who handled the sale of the bonds, explained that his firm bought a majority of the bonds on the first day the issue was available in the market. As a result of last minute negotiations, the NOV 2 9 1988 2 BOOF `� F.48 County saved $75,000. He noted that the market was not a great place to be Monday, but it was felt that Indian River County had a strong and secure bond, and it turned out that it did. Chairman Scurlock felt they did an excellent job and got a good interest rate. Chairman Scurlock recalled that FmHA had given us every indication that their definition of "guaranteed revenue" was going to be a favorable one for us and that we would be getting a comfort letter that said that the surcharges on the North Beach Water Company would not be considered as guaranteed revenue. Unfortunately, the attorneys in Atlanta decided that FmHA would not take that position. FmHA has offered us a discount in the past, which we decided against because it wasn't to our advantage. The $9.2 million loan for the Gifford sewer project is not actually a loan until the project is completed, so in that case, there is nothing to discount. The concept of going with the bond anticipation notes for a 3 -year term that can be extended to 5 is to put us in a flexible position so that we can take advantage of a discount at some point in the future. We need more flexibility so that we can be more creative in financing and refinancing the County's utilities. Commissioner Eggert asked if the interest rate would have been 5% if FmHA had come through, but Commissioner Scurlock pointed out that FmHA doesn't give 5% interest rates any longer. The $9.2 million revenue bond issue for the Gifford sewer project is being backed by FmHA at 5%. OMB Director Joe Baird noted that the last bond issue with FmHA on Bent Pines was at 7.375%. Mr. Diamond wished to thank everyone on the finance team who were involved in this bond issue for their outstanding efforts in the County's behalf, especially Director Baird, Attorney Vitunac and Administrator Collins, and Chairman Scurlock noted how very difficult it is to put something like this together in such a short time. NOV 2 9 1988 3 BOOK lb FAC[ 249 ON MOTION by Commissioner Eggert, SECONDED by Commissioner Bird, the Board unanimously adopted Resolution 88-123 (having 3 Exhibits), authorizing the execution and delivery of a Note Purchase Agreement for the sale and award of $3,900,000 aggregate principal amount of Water Revenue Bonds, Series 1988, Anticipation Notes of Indian River County Florida, at private sale by negotiation, to the purchasers thereof; etc. RESOLUTION 88-123 1S ON FILE IN ITS ENTIRETY IN THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK TO THE BOARD SCHEDULING OF REFERENDUM RE ADDITIONAL 1 -CENT SALES TAX FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS Chairman Scurlock advised that Director Baird has scheduled a meeting of the Finance Advisory Committee this month to discuss going to an additional 14 sales tax to fund the construction of capital projects. At this point the Commissioners have indicated the capital projects being proposed by their respective committees, and what is needed now is a Motion to notify the Supervisor of Elections that the question will be on the March, 1988 ballot and that the specific language for the ballot will be given to her as soon as possible. NOV 29 1988 ON MOTION by Commissioner Eggert, SECONDED by Commissioner Bowman, the Board unanimously authorized staff to notify the Supervisor of Elections that the Board would like to put the matter of an additional 14 sales tax on the March, 1988 ballot, and that the specific language will be provided as soon as possible. 4 ter. 50 BOOK Chairman Scurlock advised that the next item he will be bringing to the Board is a recommendation for a public forum, perhaps at Riverside Theatre, where all the questions on this matter could be asked and answered. There being no further business, on Motion duly made, seconded and carried, the Board adjourned at 9:20 o'clock A.M. ATTEST: �,C1.erk NOV 29 1988 5 EtOOK 75 rA �t 251