Hays County receives bond update

The Hays County Commissioners Court received an update on their bond sale from the Hays County’s Financial Advisor, Dan Wegmiller. 

Wegmiller, with Specialized Public Finance, Inc, updated the court on the 2019 Series bond sale on Tuesday, and said the County received an AA rating from Standard & Poors and Fitch Ratings, two independent credit rating agencies.

“So your AA is two noches away from the highest rating possible of AAA, which is outstanding,” Wegmiller said. 

He said the purpose of this rating is to show investors who are interested in buying bonds the County’s credit quality. 

“The AA rating reflects their opinion of the following factors for the county: strong economy with access to a broad and diverse metropolitan statistical area; strong management with good financial policies and practices under S&P’s financial management assessment methodology that they evaluate you under; adequate budgetary performance with balanced operating results in the general fund; very strong budgetary flexibility with an available fund balance in fiscal 2018 at 44%; very strong liquidity with total government available cash at 62% of total government fund expenditures; and then strong institutional framework score,” Wegmiller said. 

The bonds sold to fund $106.4 million of remaining authorization were oversubscribed by 2-3 times, according to Wegmiller. This means there were more investors who were interested in buying bonds than the County was selling. 

Following the court’s closed executive session, commissioners announced their acceptance of the resignation of the Director of Emergency Services, Kharley Smith.

“I think Ms. Smith’s done an incredible job,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said. “And I’m sorry to see her go but extremely proud of her and glad that she’s going to be remaining in the State of Texas where she will no doubt be an amazing asset to Hays County and all the citizens of Texas.”

The Court voted to appoint Justin McInnis, who currently serves as the Assistant Director of Emergency Services, as the Interim Director of Emergency Services, which will be effective Aug. 1.

In other business, commissioners approved a proclamation that declares July 21-27, 2019 as Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Officers’ Week. The proclamation honors of the Community Supervision and Corrections Department’s (CSCD) 50 years of service to Caldwell, Comal and Hays County. 

According to the proclamation, “the CSCD serves the court and is an essential part of the justice system, advocating for community and restorative justice, and its personnel are dedicated and knowledgeable public servants at the forefront of public safety who work continuously to improve the justice system so that there will be fewer crime victims.” 

Likewise, the Court approved acceptance of a $250,000 from the Texas Veterans Commission for the Hays County Veterans Treatment Court. 

jburnham

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