Buoyed by triple-A ratings across the board, Greenwich, Conn., will come to market on Thursday with an $85 million sale of general obligation notes and a $45 million GO bond sale.
The notes will help fund three projects, including a 1,325-seat music auditorium at Greenwich High School, construction of a new central fire department headquarters and renovations to the Nathaniel Witherell nursing home. All three projects, part of the town's 15-year, $714 million capital improvement plan, encountered delays.
"The timing of the three projects is coincidental," said comptroller Peter Mynarski Jr.
Rating companies cited the town's recently adopted policies regarding debt management, reserve and liquidity.
"Our metrics compared with other AAA communities are very favorable. The high rating is very good news for the town," Mynarski added.
The competitive transactions will be Greenwich's largest bond sale ever. The 62,000-population town, incorporated in 1656 and sitting about 30 miles northeast of New York City, usually sells bonds in January.
The town is home to several hedge-fund firms. Its median annual family income is $173,000, according to the preliminary official statement for the bond sale.
The auditorium project, called the music instruction space and auditorium, or MISA, should alleviate overcrowded music classrooms and poor acoustics, and improve sightlines for performances, according to Mynarski.
"The quality and tone is not acceptable for a town like Greenwich," he said.
Town officials expect to complete the first phase of the auditorium project next December or January, according to Mynarski, who anticipated the second phase done 12 to 18 months after that.
Robinson & Cole LLP of Hartford, Conn., is bond counsel and Independent Bond & Investment Consultants LLC of Madison, Conn, is the financial advisor.
Officials also hope to have the new firehouse at Havemeyer Place and Mason Street as early as next year. They demolished the older building and have relocated firefighters until the new building is in place, which they hope by as early as next year.
The town hopes to award the project to a contractor before February.
Last January, groundbreaking took place for renovations to Witherell, called Project Renew. The project, which will include more private rooms and an expanded rehabilitation center, should be finished by late spring or early summer.
Maturity for the GO bonds will run from 2015 to 2034, with the largest annual payments, $5.64 million, in each of the first five years and $1.12 million thereafter.
According to Standard & Poor's, Greenwich will roughly $204 million of total direct debt and about $85 of bond anticipation notes outstanding after this bond issue.
"Bolstering our view of the town's debt profile is that net debt at 0.4% of market value is very low, and that the town is very aggressive in its debt amortization. Roughly 85% of debt will be retired over 10 years," S&P said in a presale report.
