For Immediate Release:

March 24, 2014

 

Loan program helps local governments

Improvement Authority helps keep expenses low

County guarantee saves $2 million with 3.1 percent interest rate

 

FREEHOLD, NJ – Eleven Monmouth County municipalities that participated in the Monmouth County Improvement Authority’s recent pooled loan program will save a combined $2,054,663.

 

The Monmouth County Improvement Authority (MCIA) was able to secure this level of savings because the County guaranteed the bonds.

 

“Monmouth County participants who took part in this bond sale see the value of using the MCIA to finance their debt,” said Freeholder Serena DiMaso, liaison to the MCIA. “In addition to receiving the County’s AAA bond rating that wins them the lowest possible interest rate on the loans, they receive more savings by pooling together and using the County guarantee rather than acquiring bond insurance individually.”

 

In fact, the Borough of Monmouth Beach and the Borough of Spring Lake saw their debt service decrease significantly by participating in the tax-exempt financing through MCIA.

 

A factor that attributed to the savings is the tax-exempt bond market, which continues to experience some of the lowest rates in history. That combined with the County’s AAA bond rating netted a true interest cost of 3.114 percent, creating $2 million in savings.

 

The MCIA has generated over $55 million in savings in the last 10 years. With this pooled bond sale, each refinancing generated significant savings for the participating municipalities without extending the life of the loans.

 

The MCIA is a County agency whose singular focus is on finding alternatives to traditional methods of public finance that generate savings for Monmouth County, its municipalities and other local government entities.

 

“I would urge municipalities that are not involved with the MCIA to use the County’s pooling power and funding power to keep expenses low,” DiMaso said. “We have programs every year. This is a great way to save money and meeting community needs while remaining under the 2 percent cap.”

 

Since 1993, this fixed rate pooled loan program has benefited forty two municipalities, five local authorities and one Fire District.  Many of these participants have participated in multiple years.

 

Lake Como, Loch Arbour and Englishtown participated for the first time this year. Other participating towns were: Colts Neck, Highlands, Manalapan, Monmouth Beach, Neptune Township, Oceanport, Spring Lake and Tinton Falls.

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