Ames council adopts FY26 budget amendment and sells $12.53 million in general obligation bonds; Moody’s rating affirmed

The Ames City Council on Sept. 30 adopted an amendment to the FY25–26 budget to carry forward capital projects from the prior year and approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation corporate purpose bonds to fund multiple capital projects. Finance staff said the packet contained the correct carryover totals and that a typographical error in the resolution text had been noted and corrected; council adopted the amendment for carryovers totaling $110,890,937 by roll call. The city also took bids on a planned bond sale and received 13 competitive bids. Suzanne Gerlock of PFM, the city’s financial advisor, reported the winning bid came from KeyBank Capital Markets with a true interest cost of 3.0473 percent; premium pricing allowed the city to reduce par to $12,530,000 with a premium of approximately $1,190,000 to fully fund project needs. Gerlock noted the city’s Moody’s rating was affirmed at Aa1, one notch below AAA, and that yields were tightly clustered among bidders, reflecting strong market interest. Council adopted the bond resolution after the bond sale results were presented; staff said the first principal payment will align with the city’s debt service schedule beginning June 1, 2026.