Travis County Commissioners Court

April 24, 2012 - Items 21-24
Agenda

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Item 21 is to accept an open bid relating to and consider take appropriate action on an order authorizing the issue of $21,920,000 Travis County, Texas unlimited tax road bonds, series 2012 and matters pertaining thereto.

>> good morning, judge.
Commissioners.
lad patillo, your financial advisor, glen your bond counsel with jessica rio from the planning and budget office.
we had a very successful sale this morning.
we took bids by the electronic means at 10:00 a.m.
and we're here to report that.
the four different issues that you requested bids on, on the bonds for 2012 were the unlimited tax road bonds, 21,920,000.
the certificates of obligation, 27,150,000.
the --

>> can we all the other items up, I only called up item 21.
should we call the others.

>> yes, all four of them, yes, sir.
22.
accept and open bids relating to, and consider and take action on an order authorizing, the issuance of $27,150,000 Travis County, Texas, certificates of obligation, series 2012 (limited tax), and matters pertaining thereto.
23.
accept and open bids relating to, and consider and take action on an order authorizing, the issuance of $32,240,000 Travis County, Texas, permanent improvement bonds, series 2012 (limited tax), and matters pertaining thereto.
24.
accept and open bids relating to, and consider and take action on an order authorizing, the issuance of $3,500,000 Travis County, Texas, state highway system bonds, series 2012 (limited tax), and matters pertaining thereto.

>> thank you, judge.
since you just read them all off, I don't need to go take through that again.
we did have one issue of co's, three issues of bonds.
the last issue of bonds is a new type of bond that you are issuing, a state highway system bonds.
they're -- if anyone has any question on those, it is the 3,500,000 glen on people will be a happy to explain.
I think one of the Commissioners may have had a question.

>> I did.
I think that probably needs to be really laid out.
I think that basically because this is the first time I think that we've had an opportunity to look at this type of bond issuance.
I don't think Travis County has -- has

>> [indiscernible] with this type of bond issue in the past.
it's kind of new to us.
so I guess initially we were looking at the discussion of cos.
because I think this is basically related to the pass-through financing end of things.
so I just want to make sure that -- that what we're talking about here is related to what -- what the old -- the old way we used to do stuff as far as co's taking care of some of these situations, but with this type of concept it's something that -- that a new bond requirement, so can you kind of maybe explain that to the public to let the public know that -- that the type of -- type of bond situation this is in.
I think that it's very important.

>> yes, sir.
glen opple, with

>> [indiscernible] county bond counsel.
Commissioner, you are a correct.
this is a relative new bond product.
in 2005 the state legislature until connection with the addition of other statutes that allow for state participation and pass-through bonds and pass-through agreements and financial assistance agreement between txdot and political subdivisions in 2005 they adopted chapter 1479 of the Texas government code.
chapter 1479 is specifically titled county bonds for facilities on state highway system.
what it does is it allows in connection with -- with -- in instances where there are roads that are going to be built, that are going to be part of the state highway system, it allows counties to issue bonds for the purpose of providing funds for the design, construction, financing and engineering of those roads.
and it also allows the county, much like the -- much like the co statute does, to pledge taxes or any available revenues to those bonds.
in this case the county has underlying agreements with txdot to reimburse for a significant portion of those roads and the county is issuing tax bonds to provide the p front cash for that, and will receive that reimbursement as it submits reimbursement requests and qualified construction costs, information, to txdot.
so it is a relatively new -- it is a specific recognition that there was a need for a specific statute that would allow this to happen.
allow counties to do this.
but in -- in the sense of as an obligation, it is much -- it is in the same vein as a certificate of obligation or public improvement bond in a sense that this will be a -- secured by a limited tax.

>> I guess it was basically two projects that we looked at during the course of the budget cycle.
the Commissioners court budget cycle, those two projects f.m.
1626 and of course f.m.
969.
which is both state highways need some attention and of course this money is supposed to be used intentionally for that as far as improvement to those highway systems.

>> yes, Commissioner.
it's my understanding that this 3.5 million is a portion of the financing.
I will let jessica explain on the total --

>> the total is over approximately 30 million over the next several years.
this is just the beginning of that.

>> beginning phase of that.
as far as f.m.
969 is concerned, we're looking at from decker lane, either f.m.
3177 from that point, as far as improvement of f.m.
969 all the way to huntersbend road, which is quite significant as far as taking care of some of the safety projects.
I wanted to lay that out for the public because this is the first time we've ever ventured down this trail as far as the source of funding.

>> I would add one thing, as we were looking at the structuring of the financing, the right mechanism to use for the financing, we settled on chapter 1479 and through the process we took the structure that we are implementing and the financing package to the attorney general's office and had preliminary discussion with the attorney general's office so that they would know what was coming and essentially getting informal understanding with them that -- that everything was squared away as to the way this is being structured.

>> okay.
thank you.

>> what's the recommendation on number 21?

>> on 21 is on the unlimited tax road bonds.
the winning bid on that was from piper jaffry, 2.856573.

>> move approval.

>> second.

>> discussion on the motion?
piper jaffry, that's who that is?

>> pipe.

>> all in favor, passes.

>> 22.

>> that is the certificate of obligations.
the low bid was bosc incorporated.
it's a bank out of dallas.
the true interest cost tic on that was 0.916838.

>> move approval.

>> discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
23?

>> that's the permanent improvement bonds.
the piper jaffry once again had the low bid, the bid was 2.897497.

>> move approval.

>> second.

>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
and number 24?

>> 24 is the highway system bonds that were just discussed.
bosc again there was the low bid and the true interest cost was 2.969952.

>> move approval.
discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
so how will the -- how will these firms learn of their low bid and selection by the court?

>> that's why I sent ms.

>> [indiscernible] backup stairs to go ahead -- this is all done through a computer calculation and she just hits the award button and it immediately notifies them that they've been awarded the bonds.

>> okay.

>> thank you all very much, thank you for your patience.

>> thank you.

>> thank you, judge.

>> thank you for your explanation.

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