Jefferson County Seeks $25M Line of Credit From Regions Bank

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jefferson County, Ala., officials now say they are seeking a $25 million line of credit from Regions Bank to bolster government operations and return laid off employees to work.

Commission President Bettye Fine Collins told local newspapers Wednesday that she believes the county can get a better interest rate using a line of credit as opposed to the $25 million bridge loan it requested from Regions earlier this month.

Regions had not acted on the original loan request but spokeswoman Evelyn Mitchell said the request has been received. 

“We are evaluating the county’s request for credit and continuing to gather information, as we would for any customer, however the fact that a bankruptcy filing has been advocated by some county officials complicates the analysis of whether we can structure a secured loan that meets their needs as well as the bank’s standards,” Mitchell said yesterday.

 County commissioners this week also approved an $808 million budget for fiscal 2010, but it won’t be until Oct. 10 that about 700 employees are brought back to work.

About 1,000 employees were placed on leave without pay Aug. 1 after the county lost one-third of the revenue supporting its general fund when the Alabama Supreme Court struck down an occupational tax.

Since employees were placed on leave some have returned to work, but the majority of them have not because a legislatively authorized replacement occupational tax has not been collected long enough to pay all employees. That is why commissioners have said the remaining employees are expected to return to work Oct. 10 instead of the beginning of the fiscal year, which is Oct. 1.

In addition to budget problems, the county still has not resolved troubles surrounding $120 million of variable-rate general obligation debt and $3.2 billion of outstanding variable- and auction-rate sewer debt.

Jefferson County has negotiated forbearance agreements to delay payments, or make partial payments, on that debt, which has been accelerated. Four investment banks also say the county owes them $766.3 million in swap termination fees.

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