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Huron County approves up to $35 million in tax‑exempt bonds for Fisher‑Titus Medical Center
Summary
The Huron County Board adopted a resolution authorizing issuance of Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds, Series 2026, in an amount not to exceed $35 million to refinance prior debt and finance a new roughly 20,000 sq. ft. Fisher‑Titus Bellevue health center; the county is not liable for repayment.
The Huron County Board of Commissioners on March 3 adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance of up to $35,000,000 in tax‑exempt Hospital Facilities Revenue Bonds for Fisher‑Titus Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital that will be solely responsible for repayment. The board voted 2–0 with Commissioner Harry Brady recorded absent.
The bond issue will refinance approximately $16 million of outstanding obligations and provide about $15 million of new financing, including roughly $10 million to build an approximately 20,000‑square‑foot Fisher‑Titus Bellevue Health Center and $5 million for future capital needs, according to Scott Silvestri, chief financial officer of Fisher‑Titus Medical Center. Silvestri said the refinancing should lower the hospital's cost of debt from about 4% to around 3.7%, "and lower their annual debt services by $500,000."
Ally Kimbler of law firm Dinsmore told the board the public hearing and the resolution are required under federal tax law (Section 147(f) of the Internal Revenue Code) and Ohio law (Chapter 140 of the Ohio Revised Code) to permit county issuance of tax‑exempt hospital revenue bonds. She emphasized that the Series 2026 bonds are not general obligations of Huron County or any other political subdivision; the hospital alone is responsible for making debt service payments.
Assistant Prosecutor Randal Strickler clarified a financing detail raised during questions: as part of the tax‑exempt structure the county will acquire a leasehold interest in the financed premises and then sublease to the hospital, a common procedural step under Ohio bond law, and it does not create county liability for the bonds.
The resolution (No. 26‑065) authorizes execution of a base lease and leaseback, bond indenture, tax‑exemption certificate, a Home Office Payment Agreement if needed, and a Participating Public Hospital Agencies Agreement among Huron County, the hospital, and the County of Sandusky. The board also approved awarding the bonds to Wintrust Bank per the documents presented.
The board closed the required public hearing after calling for testimony three times; no members of the public offered comment on the bond issuance. The board recorded the resolution as adopted and the meeting adjourned at 9:23 a.m.
What happens next: the board's adoption authorizes county officers to execute the documents necessary to sell the Series 2026 bonds; the bonds will be issued under the terms set in the bond documents and remain obligations of Fisher‑Titus Medical Center, not Huron County.
