Public Service Authority will vote of closing of bond loan Thursday
By Greg Jones
The Camden County Public Service Authority voted unanimously Tuesday to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of St. Marys and have a resolution approving and authorizing a vote for a $5 million short-term loan.The PSA will vote Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Camden County Annex to proceed with the closing of the short-term bond. St. Marys Mayor Rowland Eskridge was not present at the meeting Tuesday.
The delayed vote on the closing will give PSA members more time to review documents relating to the short-term loan, something Kingsland Mayor Kenneth Smith said was vital. He said this is a major decision for the PSA, and members need to make sure that they know everything about the bond documents so there will not be any surprises in the future.Both city lawyer Amanda Blackledge and County Attorney Brent Green told the PSA members that they would not be responsible for the loan should St. Marys default on it. The two attorneys also said the PSA members could not be sued. St. Marys Councilors Gull Weaver and L.J. Williams echoed what the lawyers said.But Smith wanted to review the documents more to ensure that St. Marys would be the only government responsible for the bond. However, Smith said he has no problem supporting the city because he knows St. Marys has to address its water-and-sewer problems.St. Marys Councilor Gary Blount encouraged the PSA to look over the documents more and call him or any city officials to answer any questions. He encouraged them to have their attorneys look over the documents, too.
Last Thursday, the St. Marys City Council unanimously approved the $5 million short-term loan through the PSA for water-and-sewer improvements. St. Marys Assistant City Manager Max Tinsley said the $5 million loan will be repaid when the municipality gets its $40 million bond sometime in the middle of November. Both loans will be given by Bank of America, and the loans will allow the city to continue to make payments on work currently be done to upgrade the Point Peter Plant, he added."There is a reason we are doing the bond through the Public Service Authority. Normally we can get a $5 million bond for wastewater treatment, [but] this gives us the lowest interest rate," Tinsley said.He said the city went to other financial institutions to finance a $40 million bond, but no one in Camden County wanted to give the city a bond that high. He notes that it would have taken St. Marys a full year to develop an city agency that also must be state approved to perform the bonding. Tinsley said the PSA has the authority to issue bonds, and the county agency is the only agency that would even consider doing it."It would cost too much money for us to do it ourselves, and Bank of America recommended us not to do that," Tinsley said.About $16 million of the $40 million bond will pay for a 1 million gallon expansion of the Point Peter Plant. About $24 million of the bond will pay for the 4 million gallon expansion of the same plant sometime in 2008. The bond will cost more than $43 million due to lawyers fees and other costs associated with it.
TRSP Review: Something does not pass the sniff test here. Why are they going to the PSA? Where is the public vote on this? Is it true they went to the PSA to avoid a public vote? I don't think we are being told everything here. Your input!!!!!!!!!
"The people of this County do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created." ***The views expressed on this blog are the opinions of the individual that wrote them.
3 comments:
And this suprises who? It is business as usual for the city of Saint Mary's. Go behind the taxpayers back and when they default on the loan. Guess who will pay dearly? Everyone in the city.
I am now convinced that the elected officials of the City of St. Marys read the blog. They all showed up at the 10:00 meeting at the Annex, including Greg Bird. The PSA passed the measure to allow the City of St. Marys to go forward with the 5 million bond to cover their overage on the water and sewer projects. BUT……
Mayor Smith being the consummate elected official that he is. Threw a huge monkey wrench into the retirement fund of the currently elected officials in St. Marys. He requested that a copy of all financial transactions pertaining to the 5 million dollars be forwarded to the PSA. This guy is really on top of things.
If you notice in the excellent piece written by Greg Jones in the Tribune & Georgian. The City Officials have already concluded that the bond with cost 43 million dollars +. Most expert bond attorneys charge $10,000.00 for every $1 million that they cover. That would make the bond attorney fee about $400,000.00. Where will the other 3.6 million + be spent.
I forgot the taxpayers of St. Marys will never know. The elected officials decided the public did’nt need to know, so they avoided having a public hearing.
I can’t wait to vote for a new slate of elected officials in St. Marys. If enough people are not convinced that we need to change leadership. I hope there are enough people in the State that are smart enough to vote for H.B. 900.
The 5 million from the PSA is apart of the 40 million dollar bond. So who will monitor that the entire 40 million is spent appropriately. We definitely can't trust the elected officials of St. Marys. They all have their hand in someones cookie jar. I agree!! Based on whats happening in Camden it would probably be better if the money is distributed from the State.
Post a Comment