Fitch Rts Leon Cnty-City of Tallahassee, FL Blueprint 2000 Sales Tax Revs 'A+'.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2003 Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. assigns an 'A+' underlying rating to Leon County Leon County is the name of several counties in the United States:
adj. Being or occurring between two or more governments or divisions of a government. in Agency, Florida's (the agency's) approximately $70,000,000 sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. revenue bonds, series 2003. The bonds, expected to be insured, are scheduled to sell competitively on or about March 5. Bonds will mature Oct. 2005-2019. There is no parity Not using a parity bit to check for errors. For example, an 8-N-1 setting in a communications program, which was widely used before the Web, means each character transmitted contains (8) eight bits, (N) "no" ninth parity bit and (1) one additional stop bit to mark the end. See non-parity memory. debt outstanding. The 'A+' rating on the sales tax bonds is based on solid historical growth of pledged revenues, adequate legal provisions, a stable economy dominated by government employment which helps mitigate volatility in sales tax revenues, and the sound financial management demonstrated by both the City of Tallahassee and Leon County, which will be jointly managing this new agency. While projected coverage levels of this issue are high, pledged revenues are expected to be leveraged down to the additional bonds test Additional bonds test A test for ensuring that bond issuers can meet the debt service requirements of issuing any new additional bonds. additional bonds test within the next five years. The Leon County-City of Tallahassee Blueprint 2000 Intergovernmental Agency was created by an interlocal agreement between the City of Tallahassee (the city) and Leon County (the county) to provide the project management structure for a 15-year capital improvement program known as Blueprint 2000. The agency will be governed by a board of directors, consisting of the 5 city commissioners (each having 7 votes) and the 7 county commissioners (each having 5 votes). The agency is responsible for the planning, constructing, and financing of the Blueprint 2000 program, which includes projects for transportation and stormwater improvements. The interlocal agreement cannot terminate until the bonds fully mature, and the agency cannot declare bankruptcy. The sales tax revenue bonds are secured by the agency's share of the one-cent local option infrastructure sales tax levied in the county. The sales tax has been levied in the county since 1989, and in November 2000, voters approved the extension of the tax for Blueprint 2000 projects from 2004, when the original sales tax expires, through 2019. Pursuant to the interlocal agreement, the city and county have each pledged 80% of their 50% share of tax proceeds to the agency to secure the bonds and pay the costs of the Blueprint projects. The remaining 20% of the proceeds will be split evenly between the city and the county. Dedicated sales tax payments will be deposited directly to the agency from the state. Payment of the sales tax revenues to the agency will not begin until December 2004, so series 2003 bond proceeds include funds for capitalized interest Capitalized interest Interest that is not immediately expensed, but rather is considered as an asset and is then amortized through the income statement over time. In the context of project financing, interest that is paid by additional borrowing. through April 2005. Local option sales tax In the United States, a Local Option Sales Tax (often abbreviated LOST) is a special-purpose tax implemented and levied at the city or county level. A local option sales tax is often used as a means of raising funds for specific local or area projects, such as improving revenues have grown at the annual average rate of 6.4% over the last decade, with slower growth of 2.6% from fiscal 2001-fiscal 2002. Unaudited fiscal 2002 revenues would provide 5.2x coverage of maximum annual debt service (MADS). However, the agency is expecting to issue additional bonds annually from fiscal 2004-2007, causing projected coverage to decline to 1.26x in fiscal 2008, slightly above the additional bonds test of 1.25x MADS. This level of coverage still provides sound bondholder Bondholder A firm often has stockholders and bondholders. In a liquidation, the bondholders have first priority. bondholder An individual or institution that owns bonds in a corporation or other organization. protection. The City of Tallahassee (capital 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. rated 'AA' by Fitch) and Leon County both have strong credit quality. Tallahassee has sound financial management with detailed policies and conservative fund balance goals, low tax rates, and a low direct debt burden. The city had slight general fund operating deficits in fiscal years 1999-2001 with a more substantial deficit of $3.8 million in fiscal 2002, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. unaudited financial results. Despite this negative trend in general fund balance levels, the city's $20.7 million balance in the deficiencies fund represents a strong 21% of general fund spending. Leon County has low to moderate debt levels and sound financial results. While the county currently has no formal financial policies, general fund balance levels have been increasing over the past several years. The fiscal 2001 unreserved general fund balance level of $13.6 million represented a sound 17.2% of expenditures and transfers out, and unaudited year-end results for fiscal 2002 show a $3.7 million increase to general fund balance. Leon County is located in the northwestern part of the state and contains the state capital, Tallahassee. Population in the county has increased 24% over the past decade to reach an estimated 2001 population of 239,376. The numerous state governmental offices associated with the capital complex, along with the campuses of Florida State University Florida State University, at Tallahassee; coeducational; chartered 1851, opened 1857. Present name was adopted in 1947. Special research facilities include those in nuclear science and oceanography. and Florida A&M University, provide a stable base for the regional economy. Taxable property value has experienced consistent growth of 6%-7% annually over the past five years, and this growth is expected to continue as construction for the Southwood development, a 3,200-acre planned community Noun 1. planned community - a residential district that is planned for a certain class of residents residential area, residential district, community - a district where people live; occupied primarily by private residences , and other commercial projects takes place. A 2000 state initiative to reduce state government employment has not had any visible effect on the area economy, as city and county unemployment rates are still well below state and national levels. |
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