Bakersfield council approves wastewater refunding bonds to cut debt costs

The Bakersfield City Council on July 23 approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of not-to-exceed $65,000,000 in aggregate principal of City of Bakersfield Wastewater Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2025A, to refinance prior debt tied to the Plant 3 expansion.

City Finance Director Randy McKegan told the council the deal is a targeted refinancing of bonds originally issued in 2007 and refinanced in 2015 and 2020. He said the city will only move forward because current market conditions produce savings beyond the council's threshold: "we don't move forward with refinancing unless there's a net present value savings of at least 3%." McKegan said the underwriter's July 9 analysis shows a true interest cost of about 2.45 percent and total savings on the order of several million…