State Bond Commission approves a series of local loans, bonds and a major sewer refunding

The State Bond Commission on Sept. 18 approved a slate of local loans and bond financings for municipalities, school districts and utility authorities across the state and authorized a $497,925,000 revenue refunding for the East Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission.

Approvals included cash-flow and short-term borrowings for local districts and municipalities (items 43–46), municipal loans for street and lighting projects, and a series of long-term bonds and revenue financings (items 47–58). Notable approvals included:

- East Baton Rouge Pier St. George Fire Protection District No. 2: revenue anticipation notes not exceeding $12,500,000 for annual cash-flow borrowing; request up $2,500,000 from last year due to increases in salaries and lease payments, but the district expects new 4-mill levies in 2024 to bring about $6,500,000 in additional revenue and plans to reduce annual loan amounts over time.

- Town of Welch: sales tax bonds not exceeding $825,000 to resurface and pave six streets.

- Savin (Saving) Parish School Board sales tax district No. 1: sales tax bonds not exceeding $1,400,000 for renovations at Manning High School’s field house, and a second sales tax district authorization of $750,000 for softball facilities and ADA accessibility upgrades.

- Town of Erath: grant anticipation notes not exceeding $855,000 for street lighting upgrades; separate electric revenue bonds not exceeding $1,300,000 for electric system improvements including a substation and two large transformers. The town expects $2,400,000 in a Department of Energy and Natural Resources grant toward a $4,000,000 project and indicated it is addressing recent DEQ compliance findings.

- Village of Morroville, Pollock, Rapides Parish Sewer District No. 1 and others: a series of partial-forgiveness loans (DEQ forgivable amounts noted in staff materials) to rehabilitate wastewater treatment plants and lift stations.

- Lafayette Parish Public Power Authority: authorization not to exceed $95,000,000 in electric revenue bonds to either convert the coal-fired Rhodamaka Unit No. 2 to natural gas or make improvements to keep it coal-fired while meeting EPA standards; the total maximum project cost is about $178,000,000 and costs will be split among joint owners (authority 50%, CLECO 30%, Louisiana Energy and Power Authority 20%). Security for the bonds is the authority’s ownership interest in the unit and other pledged funds.

The commission also approved item 59, a $497,925,000 refunding for the East Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission, which staff said would provide approximately $19,000,000 in gross savings depending on bondholder participation. Item 60 — a $9,160,000 revenue bond authorization as matching funds for a consolidated wastewater treatment system in West Baton Rouge Parish — was also approved; project sources total $18,000,000 including $10,000,000 in water-sector funds.

The Town of Erath application included staff notes that the town’s sewage system is not in compliance with DEQ but that the town had identified remediation work already underway and sufficient reserves dedicated to sewer maintenance to complete remedial measures, according to the staff report.

Most items met technical requirements and were recommended by staff; motions to approve were made and recorded for the grouped item sets and carried without objections.

Several applicants received partial-forgiveness DEQ funding as part of their project financing; the commission’s staff materials listed required verifications and noted compliance or remediation steps where applicable.

The commission also recorded small amendments and cost-of-issuance reports for prior financings (items 61–64) and approved a set of lines of credit (items 65–68) as requested by the Division of Administration.