Walker County’s financial turnaround over the past three years reached its pinnacle Wednesday when it locked in the interest rate on a $14.7 million bond refinancing that will save county taxpayers more than $3.9 million by nearly cutting the county’s borrowing rate in half.
The savings exceeded expectations after the stock market closed with its worst day of the year Monday when concerns over trade with China pushed the market down. That sent nervous investors heading for the safer securities like municipal bonds and other government-backed debt on Tuesday, said Trey Monroe, the Atlanta underwriter for the bond issue. The county had set previously set Tuesday as the day to market the bonds.
“People ran for treasuries,” said Monroe, managing director of Stifel Public Finance. “We had some good luck on this one.”
Walker County’s lone commissioner, Shannon Whitfield, held a called meeting Wednesday after the Walker County Development Authority approved the bond documents locking in a 2.64 percent interest rate on the 2019 bonds. The previous bonds carried a 5.2 percent interest rate.
Whitfield said a restored county credit rating of A1 was integral in the refinancing, which cuts four and a half years off the original term of the 2015 bonds. The 1 mill assessed on property tax bills in 2015 to pay for the 2015 bonds will end five years earlier than planned, Whitfield said. The county increased its monthly payment and can pay off the new bonds early after five years.