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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRDA TOWN CTR BONDS 01-03-94AGEND RDA .NO. 5 1-3-94 DATE: D~.CE)mER 22, 1993 TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER FROM' RON/tLD A. NAULT, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE SUBJECT: REFUNDING 1987 TOWN CENTER REDEVELOPMENT BONDS if-- RECOMMENDATION: Authorize staff to proceed with the advance refunding of the 1987 Town Center Redevelopment Bonds and direct staff to solicit proposals for Financial Advisor services. FISCAL IMPACT: Estimated present value debt service savings from' refunding, $323,000- DISCUSSION= In 1982 the Redevelopment Agency issued $8.5 million of Tax Allocation Bonds for the Town Center Project Area. During 1987 Advance Refunding Bonds were issued in the amount of $8.06 million that saved the Agency approximately $340,000 in reduced debt services expense due to a reduction in net interest cost. A recently completed analysis by Bartle Wells and Associates indicates that the trend in declining interest rates has continued to the point that the Agency can realize an additional savings of about $323,000 if the outstanding Bonds were to be refunded again. The total interest savings for both refundings will exceed $600,000, a 4.3 percent savings in interest expense from the original 1982 issue. This is a very straight forward refunding that should sell very well in the open market. There appears to be a window of relatively stable interest rates that may indicate a bottoming of rates. Given an issuance schedule of 60-90 days and, adding about 30 days to RFP Financial Advisors, we should be able to complete the process by late May early June, 1994. ~o~a~4~a. Nault Director of Finance RAN: t s/At t achaent/a: re f undng, wah August 24, 1993 Ronald A. Nault, Finance Director City of Tustin 15222 Del Arno Avenue Tustin CA 92680 Bartle Wells Associates 1630 Bush Street San Francisco 94109 415/775-3113 FAX 415/775-4123 Charter member National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors Re: Refunding Town Center Redevelopment Bonds The Tustin Community Redevelopment Agency issued $8,500,000 of tax incre- ment bonds for the Town Center Redevelopment Project. These bonds were advance refunded in 1987 to reduce interest costs. The original amount of the 1987 issue was $8,060,000; as of November 1, 1993, $6,610,000 of the 1987 refunding bonds are outstanding. Interest rates on the 1987 bonds range from 5.9 percent in 1994. to 7.5 percent in 2006. the final maturity. The bonds were insured by MBIA and bear a AAA raring. Today, interest rates are substantially lower than the rates on the 1987 bonds. The Bond Buyer Index, which was 7.67 percent when the 1987 bonds were sold, is now 5.40 percent, the lowest level since 1974. The 1987 bonds can be refunded once more under current tax laws. We believe that the Redevel- opment Agency should seriously consider refunding the bonds at todafs low interest rates. This letter describes the refunding process, estimated savings from the refunding, and a schedule of events to complete the refunding. Refunding Process The process which would be used to refund the 1987 bonds is called advance refunding. This was the same process which was used in 1987. In the advance refunding, the Agency issues refunding bonds now, even though the bonds can- not be called until 1997. The proceeds of the new issue are deposited in an' escrow fund. The escrow fund--both the original deposit and the interest earn- ingsmare used to pay debt service on the refunded bonds until their call date, and call the remaining bonds at the earliest call date (in this case, Novem- ber 1, 1997). The escrOw fund is held by an escrow bank, which makes the payments on the refunded bonds. The Agency then pays the lower debt service on the new re- funding bonds. .. Part or all of an issue may be refunded. Frequently only the callable portion of an issue is refunded. In that case, the Agency continues to pay debt service on the portion of the original issue which was not refunded, as well as debt service on the new bonds. The amount of the refunding issue is generally larger than the amount of out- .standing debt to be refunded. This is true for two reasons. First, the new ~ssue must fund the amount of bonds to be called, the prepayment premium, and the costs of issuing the new bonds. Secondly, the yield on investment of the escrow fund is less than the yield on the outstanding bonds; in order to earn enough money to pay debt service on the old, higher-rate issue, more principal must be deposited in the escrow fund and invested. Ronald A. Nault August 24, 1993 Page 2 Restrictions on Refunding Advance refunding is a relatively complex process, subject to detailed IRS rules. The size of the refunding issue must be very precisely determined, based on the interest rates on the refunding issue, the costs of issuance, and the rein- vestment rates on the escrow fund. The reinvestment rate on the escrow fund is also controlled. The escrow fund must be invested in federal securities and can by invested only at the interest rate paid on the refunding bonds. If yields on federal securities in the open market are too high, the escrow fund must be invested within the yield limit in special investments purchased directly from the Treasury called State and Local Government Securities (SLGS). Estimated Savings from the Refunding The average interest rate on the outstanding 1987 bonds is 7.3 percent, and the rates in 2005 and 2006 are 7.5 percent. In today's market the rates On'insured bonds would range from less than 3 percent on the first maturity (1994) to about 5.0 to 5.1 percent tn 2006. We have analyzed refunding of all of the outstanding bonds and of the callable bonds only. The results are very close, as shown below: FULL PARTIAL REFUNDING REFUNDING Bonds refunded ........................ $6,610,000 New bond issue ........................ 7,405,000 Total savings .......................... 442,300 Percent of outstanding bonds ............... 4.90% Present value savings ................. ~ ..323,700 Percent of outstanding bonds ............... 4.37% $5,145,000 5,854,000 454,300 6.28% 323,000 5.53% The choice of approach depends on the city's preference in having one or two bonds ou. tstanding from now through 1997. Tables 1 and 2 show estimated savings in each year with a full and a partial refunding. Table 3 is the debt serxdce schedule on the !987 bonds. Selling Refunding Bonds Refunding bonds can be sold be competitive or negotiated sale. They are very frequently sold at negotiated sale, to allow flexibility in timing when markets are volatile or when smaE movements in interest rates will produce large varia- tions in the savings from the refunding. The market has been basically steady and improving, and manx' refundings are currently being done competitively. Competitive sales are pa~icularly attractive right now in the face of the cur- rent investigations of negotiated sales of municipal bond issues. Investigations are being conducted of bond issues in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Louisi- ana dealing with agreements between underwriters which were not revealed to the issuers. There was ~-~$o a recent situation in Los Angeles in which the selection of an underwri:er and the question of competitive or negotiated sale was seriously debated by :he city council. Many issuers are choosing to use competitive sales as clear evidence that the bonds were sold based only the most favorable interest Ronald A. Nault August 24, 1993 Page 3 This should be a very straightforward refunding, and the savings levels are significant and should not vary greatly in the current market. The bonds can be successfully sold by competitive or negotiated sale. Recommendation We recommend that the Agency proceed promptly with the refunding. The process can be halted at any time if the market moves away. The process of selling the bonds will take about 60 to 90 days, whether is it done by competi- tive or negotiated sale. If we are authorized to proceed in September, the re- funding can be completed by the end of the year. Very truly yours, BARTLE V~LLS ASSOCIATES Eora J~all, CIPF^ Principal LJS:mt Enc. o o $ $ 8 8 o 8 8 ~ 8 8 o o ~ ~ ~R o o 888888888888888888888888888 oo§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§o§ 8 8 Z ~Z 888 8 8 8 8 8 8 ~ 8~ o 8 8 8 $ 8 888 '"'~ TABLE 3 - TUSTIN COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY TOWN CENTER PROJECl - DEBT SERVICE, 1987 REFUNDING BONDS FISCAL CAIDIDAR PRINCIPAL CPN ~ ~ SVC DATE DATE PAYMENT RATE PA~ 7UFALS 11/94 05/01/1994 0.00 234,807.50 234,807.50 05/95 11/01/1994 335,000.00 5.900 234,807.50 569,807.50 11/95 05/01/1995 0.00 224,925.00 T24,925.00 05/96 11/01/1995 355,000.00 6.200 224,925.00 579,925.00 11/96 05/01/1996 O. 00 213,920.00 213,920.00 05/97 11/01/1996 375,000.00 6.400 213,920.00 588,920.00 11/97 05/01/1997 0.00 201,920.00 201,920.00 05/98 11/01/1997 400,000.00 6.700 201,920.00 601,920.00 11/98 05/01/1998 0.00 188,520.00 188,520.00 05/99 11/01/1998 425,000.00 7.000 188,520.00 613,520.00 11/99 05/01/1999 ' 0.00 173,645.00 173,645.00 05/00 11/01/1999 455,000.00 7.100 173,645.00 6~,645.00 11/00 05/01/2000 0.00 157,492.50 157,492.50 05/01 11/01/2000 490,000.00 7.200 157,492.50 647,492.50 11/01 05/01/2001 0.00 139,852.50 139,852.50 05/02 11/01/2001 525,000.00 7.300 139,852.50 664,852.50 11/02 05/01/2002 0.00 120,690.00 la, 690.00 05/03 11/01/2002 560,000.00 7.300 120,690.00 680,690.00 11/03 05/01/2003 0.00 100,250.00 100,250.00 05/04 11/01/2003 605,000. O0 7.400 100,250. O0 705,250.00 11/04 05/01/2004 0.00 77,865.00 77,865.00 05/05 11/01/2004 645,000.00 7.400 77,865.00 722,865.00 11/05 05/01/2005 0. O0 54,000.00 54,000.00 05/06 11/01/2005 695,000.00 7.500 .54,000.00 749,000.00 11/06 05/01/2006 O. O0 27,937.50 O, 937.50 05/07 11/01/2006 745,000.00 7.500 27,937.50 772,937.50 TOTALS: 6,610,000.00 3,831,650.00 10,441,650.00 YEtRLY DEBT SERVICE 234,807.50 794,732.50 793,845.00 790,840.00 790,440.00 787,165.00 786,137.50 787,345.00 78'5,542.50 780,940.00 783,115.00 776,865.00 776,937.50 772,937.50