Woodbury awards $41.3M bond sale to fund public safety campus remodel

The City Council on June 24 voted to award the competitive sale of $41,295,000 in general obligation sales-tax revenue bonds (Series 2026A) to fund remodeling and expansion of the public safety campus.

Jason Arswold, financial advisor with Ehlers, reviewed the sale results and noted Standard & Poor’s affirmed the city’s AAA rating. "They have affirmed the city's triple A rating," Arswold said, and presented sale metrics: five bids were received, the winning bid produced an effective true interest cost of about 3.1825%, and the issue produced a market premium of approximately $4,126,000, which staff recommends retaining to pay project costs rather than drawing down other fund balances.

Chief financial staff explained the average annual debt service for this issuance will be about $4.98 million while sales-tax collections dedicated to the bonds are estimated at $8.64 million annually, providing coverage for debt service. The bonds are callable beginning after year seven, giving the city flexibility to retire debt early if sales-tax receipts remain strong.

Council discussed whether to stagger issuance; staff said the project timeline and a two-year construction window made issuing the debt in whole the sensible option and noted the callable feature addresses changing future revenue conditions.

On the council floor the motion to adopt resolution 26-75 awarding the bond sale, fixing form and specifications, and directing execution and delivery was moved, seconded and passed by roll call. Council also authorized the CFO/controller to contract with Ehlers for arbitrage calculations and continuing-disclosure services related to the bonds.