Ganim praises Council for bond action

Bridgeport – Mayor Joe Ganim today is praising the Bridgeport City Council vote approving a refinance of fiscal year 2016 General Obligation Bonds issued in prior years to a lower interest rate that will save taxpayers more than $3,000,000 in the current fiscal year. This helps trim the estimated $20 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year. The refinancing delivers a total savings of up to $6,000,000 in the next three fiscal years. The refinancing of the General Obligation Bonds will reduce interest rates from between 4-5% to an estimated 2.2% resulting in significant savings for taxpayers. The largest portion of the savings involves the 2006 General Obligation Bonds along with portions of other outstanding bond issues. Interest rates for municipal bonds are at historically low levels, hence the significant savings to Bridgeport taxpayers in lower debt service payments. The underwriter of the bonds is Morgan Stanley.

“To close this budget deficit we need to save every penny we can, and this refinancing provides us a major opportunity to cut our costs and save taxpayers millions,” said Mayor Ganim. “I commend the Bridgeport city council for backing our plan to move forward with this refinancing, it benefits everyone in the city. We will continue to look for ways we can cut the deficit and bring our city’s finances under control.”

In addition to the refinancing, Bridgeport city councilors approved issuing nearly $6.75 Million in new General Obligation Bonding to fund critical needs for new capital investments including a new fire truck to replace an aging hook and ladder truck, new police cars and sanitation trucks, a new station alerting system, and an estimated $1.5 million for street paving. This bond issue is structured in such a way that will save taxpayers an estimated $200,000 in costs.