Florida’s Cabinet approved the sale of about $400 million of new and refunding bonds on Tuesday.
Three competitive sales will be brought to market by the Division of Bond Finance, the largest of which is the $310 million of full-faith-and-credit refunding bonds for the Department of Transportation’s right-of-way acquisition and bridge construction program. The bonds are secured primarily from motor fuel and diesel fuel taxes.
The division also plans to sell $16.5 million of Florida State University parking facility revenue bonds and $8.5 million of refunding bonds secured by parking system revenue and a mandatory transportation access fee charged to all students. Proceeds will finance the construction of a parking facility on the Tallahassee campus.
Another $17.3 million of student health fee revenue bonds will be sold so the University of North Florida can build a wellness center consisting primarily of fitness facilities and equipment.
The Cabinet also approved the Florida Housing Finance Corp.’s request to sell up to $47.5 million of multifamily mortgage revenue bonds for three projects.
Division of Bond Finance director Ben Watkins also reported on the outcome of recent bond sales.
Watkins said the state received a true interest cost of 2.34% on a $223.4 million State Board of Education lottery revenue refunding deal competitively sold on Sept. 9. The deal was done within the existing 10-year maturity of the refunded bonds and resulted in annual debt service savings of $3.4 million and present-value savings of $30.4 million, or 12.4%, according to Watkins.
The Oct. 7 competitive sale of $167.2 million of new Board of Education capital outlay bonds resulted in a true interest cost of 4.03%. The 30-year bonds were sold to finance capital projects at schools and community college districts.
Both bond deals were awarded to Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the low bidder.
