A delay in finalizing Harrisburg, Pa.'s $260 million lease of parking assets has also pushed back the sale of the city's incinerator by one week.
The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority has rescheduled a related $130 million bond sale to fund the purchase of the trash burner to Dec. 9 and 10, from Dec. 4 and 5, with separate days scheduled for retail and institutional sales.
"The delay is due to the parking portion of the transaction. There was a delay on their end, which affects our going to market with the bonds," said a representative for authority chief executive James Warner.
The Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, which is issuing tax-exempt bonds to finance the parking acquisition, is finalizing related documents. Its board is tentatively scheduled to meet Dec. 4.
Warner said the Lancaster authority's board plans to close the incinerator purchase Dec. 23, not Dec. 16. It intends to rename the facility the Susquehanna Resource Management Complex.
The sale of the incinerator, with related debt amounting to roughly $365 million that Harrisburg cannot pay, and a 40-year lease of parking assets are centerpieces to the so-called Harrisburg Strong plan, which aims to keep Pennsylvania's capital city out of bankruptcy.
"Both transactions should occur about the same time," said Cory Angell, the communications director for Harrisburg's state-appointed receiver, William Lynch.
Lynch and his advisory team want to price the bonds before the city encounters another expected cash-flow crunch this month or next.
The authority is based in Lancaster, whose namesake county abuts Harrisburg's Dauphin County.
