BRADENTON, Fla. - Miami-Dade County officials yesterday said they are still determining whether they will price $440 million of revenue bonds this week to provide the primary financing for the Florida Marlins' long-awaited new ballpark.
The transaction was tentatively scheduled for retail pricing on Wednesday and institutional pricing on Thursday. A decision on when the deal will price is expected today.
The county plans to sell $340 million of professional sports franchise facilities tax bonds, Series 2009A through E, and $100 million of Series 2009 subordinate special obligation bonds in complex transactions with taxable and tax-exempt, new-money and refunding bonds. Structures would include current interest, capital appreciation, convertible capital appreciation, and variable-rate bonds.
Proceeds will go toward the construction of a $515 million retractable-roof Major League Baseball stadium. The overall project, including land preparation, will cost $644.5 million, with the Marlins contributing $155 million and the city of Miami contributing $120.1 million, most of which will go toward building parking garages.
The $340 million of professional sports franchise facilities tax, or PST, bonds will be structured as Series A through D insured by Assured Guaranty Corp. Series 2009A and B will be refunding bonds with final maturities in 2029 and 2049. Series 2009 C and D will be fixed-rate taxable and tax-exempt bonds with final maturities in 2049. The Series E bonds will be variable rate and supported by a letter of credit from Wachovia Bank NA.
The PST bonds will be backed primarily by the professional sports tax as well as tourist development taxes which, according to Miami-Dade officials, have declined in the first seven months of the fiscal year by 17.6%. To strengthen the payment stream, the county has covenanted to budget legally available non-ad valorem revenues if necessary to pay debt service.
The subordinate bonds will not be insured. The primary source of repayment for the bonds is a portion of the county's convention development tax, or CDT, for which collections in the first seven months of this fiscal year were down 12.53%. In addition to CDT revenue, the county has a backup pledge of a locally collected one-half cent sales tax.
The 2009A through D bonds received underlying ratings of A from Fitch Ratings, A2 from Moody's Investors Service, and A-plus from Standard & Poor's. The subordinate bonds were rated A, A3, and A-plus by the agencies. The variable-rate bonds got top short-term ratings.
While there have been concerns about the deal due to the economy and its dependence on various tax streams, long-time South Florida banker John Rodstrom said those doubts were removed when the county pledged other revenues as a back stop.
"Given the strength of Dade County's credit rating, the bonds should be well received," said Rodstrom, who heads up Florida's public finance office for Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. He also is a Broward County commissioner.
The county's GO bonds are rated double-A minus.
