Feb 8

Written by:
2/8/2012 11:22 AM 

Interest rates have fallen, and the Williamson County Commissioners Court is once again taking advantage of market conditions to refinance road bond debt at a lower interest rate.  The Court authorized County Auditor David Flores to refinance $132 million in road bonds over the next twelve months.  The County is anticipating a net interest rate of 2.45% for a savings of $9.4 million over the time of the debt.

Williamson County has a AAA bond rating from both Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s on all of the County’s outstanding debt.  These exceptional ratings allow the County to refinance debt at a much lower rate.

"Being one of the fastest growing areas in the United States, Williamson County has an obligation to respond to increasing capital infrastructure needs. We also are challenged with combining long term financing to keep the debt burden sufficiently low with a pay as you go strategy for maintenance and operations. This approach merits the "AAA" bond ratings the County has earned,” said County Auditor David Flores.

According to Public Specialized Finance Inc., if the credit spread is assumed to be 25 basis points between AA and AAA, then Williamson County’s four bond issues since the upgrade from AA to AAA has resulted in an approximate $6.04 million interest rate savings to date.

 New ratings reports will be available on the County’s website at www.wilco.org under the button for County Finances upon completion of the refinancing in early March.