Connecticut may issue a combined $700 million new-money and refunding deal later this year.
The states bond commission today will vote on authorizing a package of state special tax obligation and refunding bonds as well as approving about $77.9 million of other bonds for new projects, the states assistant treasurer said. The commission is taking up the proposals as the treasurers office prepares the contracts for its new bond counsel teams.
The proposed deal which is tentatively scheduled for November or December would include the states annual $200 million borrowing for transportation projects and a $500 million refunding, which will depend on market conditions. Connecticut refunded $1 billion in GOs in March.
The bond commission is also considering $77.9 million of debt for other projects, including $15 million for Gateway Community-Technical College to consolidate two campuses into a single location at a city-owned site in New Haven. A $20 million issue that would go, in increments of up to $500,000 each, to smaller towns for economic development projects is also on the agenda.
The commission had issued a request for proposals for new bond counsel when its 1999-2004 contracts were set to expire.
We didnt anticipate there would be big changes, but there were a few swaps between firms, assistant state treasurer Catherine Boone said.
For example, Finn Dixon & Herling and Soeder & Associates will join as co-disclosure counsel, while Day, Berry & Howard will remain disclosure counsel. Lewis & Munday will join as one of eight series counsel, while the Law Offices of Joseph C. Reid will shift from series counsel to UConn 2000.
Boone said that none of the alterations in the bond counsel lineup were made to replace Hawkins, Delafield & Wood, which withdrew its services months ago when the Connecticut attorney general filed a lawsuit against the firm to recover money lost by the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority in an arrangement with Enron Corp. that allegedly involved the firm.
