Pinal County hears refinancing options to cut borrowing and pension costs

Pinal County supervisors heard detailed proposals from financial advisers on refinancing existing county bonds and on using the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) contribution prefunding program to reduce the county’s pension-related costs.

At a work session, Angie Woods, director of the Office of Budget and Finance, introduced advisers from Stifel who reviewed two distinct categories of financing: refunding outstanding debt and potential long‑term financing for new projects. "We broke it up into 2 different categories, intentionally, because today's category has more to do with, the value of refinancing, outstanding obligations," Woods said.

The refunding proposal covered bond issues from 2014 and 2015. Mark Patel of Stifel said the county’s 2014 transaction totaled $52,700,000 (used for Hunt Highway expansion, public safety radio upgrades, Ironwood Drive improvements and court system work) and that the average coupon on that issuance was about…