The Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County on Monday validated $3 billion of Florida Gas Utility revenue bonds.
The validation makes it largely impossible for FGU’s bonds to be contested in the future.
The agency, which supplies natural gas to a number of cities and utilities in Florida, sought the validation to finance prepay gas supply deals. None are currently under consideration, according to FGU general manager Katrina Vaughan.
The bonds may be issued in one or more series. The size of each bond issue is expected to be driven by the price of natural gas, Vaughan said.
Members of an interlocal agreement, mentioned in court documents, include the cities of Chipley, Clearwater, Fort Meade, Homestead, Lake City, Lake Worth, Lakeland, Leesburg, Live Oak, Marianna, Perry, Starke, Sunrise, Vero Beach, Williston, and Jay, as well as the Florida Municipal Power Agency, the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority, the Kissimmee Utility Authority, the Orlando Utilities Commission, and the Palatka Gas Authority.
Any gas supply contracts financed with the bonds validated on Monday may include other participants, according to court documents.
FGU in 2006 sold $670 million of variable-rate demand bonds for a prepaid gas purchase agreement. The agency’s first deal was in 1998 when it sold $115.9 million of prepay gas bonds, which mature this year.
