[0] Fitch Rates Florida Board of Education's $133MM GOs `AA'.Business Editors NEW ORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2001 Fitch rates the State of Florida's $133,030,000 full faith and credit, State Board of Education, capital outlay capital outlay See capital expenditure. bonds, 2001 series A, `AA'. The bonds, originally expected for bids on 18 hours' notice as early as March 15 in the amount of $14,580,000, have been increased by Supplemental Resolution to include up to $125,000,000 capital outlay refunding bonds refunding bond A bond that is issued for the purpose of retiring an outstanding bond. Issuers refund bond issues to reduce financing costs, eliminate covenants, and alter maturities. See also crossover refunding bonds, prerefunding. . The bond sale remains on 18 hours' notice, as early as April 10. The `AA' rating on the state's outstanding $9.9 billion full faith and credit bonds is affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. . The new bonds will be due Jan. 1, 2002-2021, with bidders' option to designate des·ig·nate tr.v. des·ig·nat·ed, des·ig·nat·ing, des·ig·nates 1. To indicate or specify; point out. 2. To give a name or title to; characterize. 3. a term bond with mandatory sinking fund sinking fund, sum set apart periodically from the income of a government or a business and allowed to accumulate in order ultimately to pay off a debt. A preferred investment for a sinking fund is the purchase of the government's or firm's bonds that are to be paid redemption for bonds maturing on and after 2013; optionally callable Callable Applies mainly to convertible securities. Redeemable by the issuer before the scheduled maturity under specific conditions and at a stated price, which usually begins at a premium to par and declines annually. beginning Jan. 1, 2011, at 101%. Nearly all of Florida's full faith and credit bonds are secured by specific revenues. The capital outlay bonds being offered are on a parity with $935.1 million outstanding bonds, secured by a lien lien, claim or charge held by one party, on property owned by a second party, as security for payment of some debt, obligation, or duty owed by that second party. on the first revenue derived from motor vehicle license taxes, and subordinate to the claim of $9.2 million outstanding prior lien capital outlay bonds issued prior to 1992. The prior lien bonds are expected to be defeased with the refunding portion of this issue. Motor vehicle license taxes are first distributed on a formula basis among school districts and community college districts and, after meeting the constitutional educational dedication (requiring 1.12 times (x) annual coverage of capital outlay debt service), the excess is then statutorily dedicated to the state transportation trust fund and other transportation purposes. Debt issuance also requires 1.11x coverage of annual debt service by such revenues accruing to each borrowing unit; the 1999-2000 educational distribution provided coverage of 1.21x, down from 1.63x in 1997-98. The total tax yield is available if necessary, and would provide 5.74x coverage. Projected maximum annual debt service of $89.1 million would be covered 5.4x by 1999-2000 total motor vehicle license taxes. Annual coverage from 1986-87 to 1997-98 was in excess of 6x, dropping since as state bonding for educational purposes continues to increase; other securing revenue streams are also being separately employed for educational needs, such as the lottery. Florida's credit assessment takes into account the specific tax dedications for each type of debt as well as the faith and credit of the state. The state's profile may be characterized by rapid growth, economic broadening, and diversification. Financial operations continue the better-than-expected trend of the past few years reflecting the continuing economic strength. In March, the revenue estimating conference lowered state revenues for this fiscal year by $54 million (2%), and by $193 million for fiscal 2001-02, largely attributable to the corporate and intangibles taxes. The June 30, 2001, combined general and working capital fund balances are now projected at $530 million, or 2.7% of projected revenues. The budget stabilization fund Stabilization fund may refer to:
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