The Utah Transit Authority is moving towards a $320 million bond deal for expansion of its Trax and FrontRunner rail projects.
The UTA’s executive committee last week approved a measure to submit to the full board authorizing the outlay.
Previous plans called for UTA to borrow about $180 million this year or early next year to finish financing extensions of FrontRunner from Salt Lake City to Provo, and TRAX extensions to Draper, Salt Lake City International Airport, West Valley City and Daybreak.
They now also are considering refinancing up to $140 million in variable-rate bonds issued earlier, with a goal of locking in historically low long-term fixed rates.
“There is an opportunity like half of America faces in their homes: Do you refinance?” said UTA general counsel Bruce Jones.
UTA finance and operations committee chairman Chris Bleak said bond rating agencies recommend that the authority have no more than about 10% of its debt in variable-rate bonds.
Variable-rate debt now accounts for 14 to 15%. The proposed refinancing would bring it down to 7 to 8%, Bleak said.
