Rhode Island conduit issuer targets school facilities

Improving public school facilities will be a priority of the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. under its new executive director, Kimberly Mooers.

"This is a particularly exciting time to be joining RIHEBC as Rhode Island ramps up its financing for the repair and construction of school facilities across the state," she said.

Kimberly Mooers, Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation.

Mooers, who began Aug. 8, succeeds Robert Donovan, who held the position for 25 years. Donovan will remain as a senior advisor during the transition, then retire at the end of the year.

Mooers brings more than 25 years of government and nonprofit finance to the position. Most recently, she was senior vice president, manager and principal at UniBank Fiscal Advisory Services Inc. Previously she held senior positions at the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority,

She also has extensive experience in the region as a senior investment banker at various national banks and broker-dealers.

"My heart is in 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations, so that part of RIHEBC has me excited," she said in an interview from the organization's headquarters in downtown Providence. "I also want to leverage my previous position."

A referendum on a $250 million construction bond will go before state voters in November. Multiple engineering studies have called on Rhode Island to upgrade its school facilities.

"Fixing our public school facilities is one of my top priorities," Gov. Gina Raimondo said.

Should the referendum pass, "A lot of details need to be worked out" between RIHEBC and the state's Department of Education School Building Authority, Mooers said.

Rhode Island's General Assembly created the corporation in 1966 to help eligible borrowers secure funding for capital projects, notably tax-exempt debt financing. Eligible borrowers include municipalities, public school districts, and public and private nonprofit educational and healthcare organizations.

Over 52 years, it has issued $8.7 billion in bonds. It issued $390.2 million in fiscal 2018, $263.5 million of which was new money. All 501(c)(3) issues it executed in FY 2018 were education-based.

Its 10 issues that fiscal year included four 501(c)(3) deals and six four public schools. Of those 10, two featured partial refunding of past issues.

Tax-exempt bond financing is its workhorse. Financings have ranged from $1.2 million for a nursing home to $214 million for a hospital network.

Its first financing was for a physical education building and other campus renovations at Barrington College. In 2003, its statewide role expanded when lawmakers made it the designated issuer of bonds for school projects by cities and towns eligible for state aid.

Barrington closed when Gordon College acquired it in 1985. The Building Corp.’s second issuance, for Brown University, had a more lasting impact, as the Ivy League institution used the proceeds for administrative offices, infrastructure improvements and dormitories.

The organization works with such major issuers as Brown, Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Rhode Island. Its next board of directors meeting will be Sept. 20.

Today's challenges, according to Mooers, include the effects of changes to the federal tax laws.

“We worry a little but about banks losing their appetite for purchasing bonds. So far it's been smooth sailing but we'll keep our eyes open,” she said. “For smaller nonprofits and municipalities it's been a great program. We have Brown, we have RISD and we have URI, but we have the little guys to watch.”

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School bonds Higher education bonds Rhode Island
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