Last November Metro-area voters passed a measure to fund more greenspaces and greenways across the region. The BTA worked to help pass Measure 26-80, which will help fund nine key trails projects in the region.
News is that the voters will get even more bang for the buck than promised, thanks to a good bond rating which will reduce finance costs on the bond. From an internal source:
This morning the first series of natural areas bonds was sold. Thanks to the AAA bond ratings that Metro received last week, each of the 11 institutional investors that bid on our bonds offered more than the $125.4 million asking price, and the interest rates offered were lower than what was anticipated. As a result, Metro sold its bonds for about $131.8 million – providing the agency with an additional $6.38 million to spend on the natural areas program – while securing an interest rate of 4.07 percent. This is estimated to save taxpayers about $8 million in interest over the 20-year life of the bonds.
Very exciting news. We now need to work to get those funds directed to important programs — more on that soon.
Excellent News! Thanks for letting us know!