City staff outlines excise‑tax refunding and possible cash defeasance to lower debt service; ordinance on voting agenda

Glendale finance staff presented a refinancing and defeasance plan for the city’s excise‑tax debt portfolio at the April 22 workshop and said a related ordinance would be on the voting‑meeting agenda that evening.

Levi Gibson, director of budget and finance, described an opportunity to refund 2015A excise‑tax obligations and to use existing cash to defease higher‑cost, taxable maturities in conjunction with a new issuance. Gibson said refinancing the 2015A series alone produced an estimated savings of about $1.6 million based on current market conditions. He noted staff and the city’s underwriter had identified additional savings potential by using budgeted cash to defease certain outstanding higher‑interest obligations and replacing that cash with new‑money issuance at lower…