The Internal Revenue Service has completed an audit of $60 million of hospital revenue bonds issued in 2002 by Lakeland, Fla., finding no change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.
Lakeland issued the bonds for Lakeland Regional Health Systems. The IRS notified Lakeland of the audit in January, the regional system said in an event notice posted Wednesday on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s online EMMA system.
Lakeland officials said the IRS notified them in a Aug. 30 letter that it found no violations that would warrant a change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.
The bonds were issued to acquire and develop a 35,200-square-foot medical building to provide outpatient radiation therapy and chemotherapy services.
The project included a 288-bed medical tower and a parking garage, according to bond documents.
The bonds — $51.03 million that were to mature in 2032 and $8.98 million that would mature in 2027 — appear to have been refunded, bond documents indicate.
Salomon Smith Barney, now Citi, and Raymond James & Associates Inc. co-underwrote the bonds. Nabors, Giblin, Nickerson PA in Tampa served as bond counsel, and Schifino & Fleischer PA, also in Tampa, represented the underwriters.
