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Grayson County court approves order allowing Waste Management to use tax-exempt bond proceeds for regional facilities
Summary
The commissioners court approved an order allowing Waste Management’s issuer to include the Hillside Landfill in a single, multi-jurisdiction tax-exempt bond financing of up to $120 million; county officials were told the county incurs no liability and $50 million may be issued in 2025.
County Judge Bruce Dawsey and the Grayson County Commissioners Court on April 8 approved an order permitting Waste Management’s issuer to include the Hillside Landfill in a single tax-exempt bond financing covering 14 facilities, an issuer representative told the court.
The order allows the Mission Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), acting as issuer, to issue up to $120 million in tax-exempt bonds for improvements at Waste Management facilities in Texas, including the Hillside Landfill in Grayson County. Lee McCormick, municipal adviser with Community Development Associates for MEDC, told the court that $50 million of the $120 million allocation is expected to be issued in 2025 and the remainder would be issued later pending additional bond review board allocations.
McCormick said a single, statewide bond avoids the cost of issuing 14 separate financings. "In order for the company to do a single bond financing for all 14 facilities, we have to go through each jurisdiction where one of the projects is located and have them approve an order allowing the MEDC to issue a single bond versus doing 14 separate bonds," he said.
McCormick told the court the state allocation process is competitive and annual, and that approving the order poses no financial risk to Grayson County. "There's no risk, no liability to Grayson County with regards to approving this order. The county's name won't appear on the bond. It's strictly a responsibility of Waste Management," McCormick said. He added the tax-exempt status affects the investors, not county tax rates.
McCormick also said a federal requirement included holding a public hearing for the statewide project; he told the court the public hearing was held March 5 and that no comments were received for any of the facilities. Commissioner Marr moved to approve the order; Commissioner Arthur seconded. The court recorded the motion as carried without opposition.
The court did not add conditions or ask for additional county financial commitments during the discussion. No members of the public spoke during the item.
Notes: The court’s approval was limited to issuing the local order required by state rules to permit a single, multi-jurisdiction issuance; it does not constitute county issuance of bonds or a county financial guarantee.
