DALLAS - The Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority will issue $25 million of state facilities revenue bonds for the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum sooner than originally scheduled so construction can continue at the state-owned facility in Oklahoma City.
The museum bonds are part of a $475 million state bond package approved by legislators in May. Most of the debt will be issued over the next two years, but the OCIA board voted last week to move up the American Indian Center issue and an $11 million bond issue for renovations at the Wiley Post Building in the state capitol complex that was included in an earlier authorization.
The board authorized the staff to seek requests for proposals for bond counsel and underwriters for the five issues in the total bond package and the Wiley Post Building Project.
The OCIA board also voted to seek interim financing from commercial or investment banks for the two projects to keep contractors on the job until the bonds are sold and proceeds become available.
Bond counsel and underwriters for most of the issues will be chosen by the OCIA board later this year after a review by a selection committee. However, the board authorized Gov. Brad Henry and John Richard, director of the Department of Central Services, to select the bond counsel on the interim financing and the debt sales for the American Indian Center and the Wiley Post Building.
The Post Building is being renovated to become the new home of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Tim Martin, senior bond analyst in the state bond adviser's office, said the state would probably use bond anticipation notes for the interim financing.
"We hope to have the interim financing in place by September, with the bonds going to market in October," Martin said.
At the OCIA meeting, Henry said contractors will be completing work on the basement and exterior walls of the American Indian Center in early September, and the project would come to a halt for at least a month without the interim financing.
"We can't get a bond issue done that early," Henry said. "That leaves at least a 30-day window, if not more, where we just have to shut down construction and all the while, the cost of materials is rising."
The governor said costs associated with the interim financing would be offset by the savings realized through buying steel and construction materials now that would cost more later.
The other segments of the bond package include $300 million for state highways, up to $120 million for the state's matching contribution to privately endowed positions at state colleges and universities, $25 million for low-water dam projects along the Arkansas River near Tulsa, and $25 million for flood control projects across the state.
Martin said the state cannot issue the first $150 million of the highway bonds until August 2009 nor the second $150 million until August 2010. The other issues are expected to go to market in 2009, he said.
