Pitkin County staff outline $5–7 million Healthy Rivers and Streams bond; rating, timing set

Pitkin County officials briefed commissioners June 2 on plans to issue Healthy Rivers and Streams sales-tax revenue bonds to finance water-acquisition projects in the Roaring Fork watershed.

Liz Woods, the county finance director, treasurer and public trustee, said staff expect the issue to be “somewhere between five and 7 million,” funded with about a 15-year term and structured with level debt service. Robin Moore of Piper Sandler, the county’s municipal advisor, told the board the bonds will include the typical 10-year call/refinance feature that lets the county refinance or redeem the bonds if market conditions improve.

Moore said the biggest factor driving the interest rate will be the county’s credit rating. She said staff expect the issue to fall in the very strong double‑A range and that the county will seek a rating from Standard & Poor’s in the first or second week of July. The financing schedule presented targets a sale in late July and a closing — when the county receives funds — in early August, with Aug. 11 as the current target.

Staff said the county plans to use roughly $1 million of fund balance toward the transactions and will account for any contribution from the City of Aspen if the city opts to participate. The board was told the ordinance and bond documents will return for a first reading on June 24 and a second reading on July 8.

Commissioners asked routine market questions about how municipal bonds are sold and how the ‘‘sale yield’’ is reported. Moore explained that individual maturities carry their own yields and that an overall sale yield reported in news summaries is effectively an average of those multiple maturities; she also noted bonds are typically sold in $5,000 denominations and that investor demand for Colorado municipal bonds remains strong.

The county’s next steps are to finalize documents, pursue the rating, and return bond documents for formal readings as scheduled.