Mark Mayoka Discusses Refunding Plan

Councilman Mark Mayoka states “The time spent over the past two weeks was well spent and has yielded extraordinarily positive results”.

These are the undisputed facts

1)      The refunding plan that was attached to the refunding bond resolution which was prepared on March 13^th was only a proposed plan and is stale.

2)      The resolution allows for the plan to change and the plan has changed.

3)      The new plan has re-evaluated the cost of issuance, underwriters discount, market conditions as well as bonding options.

4)      Instead of saving $700,000 we will be saving significantly more money. In fact, we estimate that we will be saving over 1 million dollars.

5)      The new refunding plan is also different than the previous refunding plan in that it uncovered a potential problem with the 2005 refunding segment of 7 million dollars in bonds.  It is now probable that we will not go forward with the refunding of the 2005 bond segment because it would yield only marginal savings and would be viewed negatively by the ratings agencies. This change in strategy was agreed to in a meeting with NYMAC and Supervisor Petrone on May 21^st. It was  confirmed in an e-mail from NYMAC dated May 22^nd

6)      The end result is that we now have a strategic financial plan in place for our bonding program that maximizes savings.

7)      Between now and the date of issuance we will continue to review the available options to potentially find additional savings.