The Ashland County Finance & Economic Development Committee voted to forward approval of a conduit bond issuance for Tamarack Health to the full county board at its October meeting, with one committee member recorded as abstaining. The action authorizes the county to act as a bond conduit so Tamarack can obtain lower interest financing for a building project.

County staff described the arrangement as a conduit issuance that does not place the county at financial risk. The bond placement would be purchased by a bank or other sophisticated investor and would be repaid from Tamarack Health’s revenues; the county would not be the obligor on the debt. A county representative said counsel has reviewed the documents and that Tamarack will reimburse the county for legal review fees.

Tucker Plumsitt of National Healthcare Capital, who attended to explain the financing, told the committee the structure is standard: the investor understands the bond is ‘‘strictly relying on the credit of the hospital to pay it’’ and that the transaction typically uses tax-exempt status to lower borrowing costs. He described the tax exemption as a driver of the lower rate offered by banks.

Committee members asked about the program limits. Staff said the county may issue up to $10,000,000 of conduit bonds in a single year under the current allocation and that a new $10,000,000 issuance in a future year would be possible if capacity remained. Staff also said Tamarack’s overall project is larger than the conduit portion and that Tamarack plans to use about $10,000,000 of conduit financing as part of a roughly $15,000,000 project, with the county contributing about $5,000,000 from reserves toward the same project.

The committee recorded one abstention, by a member who said they had a banking partnership; no committee member was recorded voting against the measure. The committee’s recommendation will be placed on the full board agenda for final action.