Chesterfield outlines EDA’s role in financing county facilities, cites $430 million leveraged

Chesterfield County supervisors heard a presentation on the Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) finances and project portfolio, including how the EDA issues conduit bonds on the county’s behalf to fund public facilities and development sites.

The presentation matters because the EDA’s conduit financings have allowed the county to borrow at lower cost and accelerate projects the board has approved, county officials said. That approach, they said, maximizes proceeds available for capital projects without drawing directly on the general fund.

Bridal Staley, co-counsel to the EDA, told the board the EDA “is a separate political subdivision created by the county board supervisors,” and its powers are constrained by the IDA Act, the Constitution of Virginia and Virginia case law. She said the EDA’s primary purposes relevant to county work are to promote industry and trade, and “to assist in the development of facilities for the county government and the schools.”

County presenters described two regular EDA roles: issuing bonds payable from annual appropriations and conducting land-development or incentive transactions. The presenters said conduit bonds issued by the EDA are typically…