Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of June 18th, 2018: State of Georgia General Obligation Bonds – $1.2 Billion


The State of Georgia is issuing $1.2 billion in general obligation bonds for the purposes of funding various capital projects. Date of sale for the bonds is Tuesday, June 19. The bonds are being issued in two series: Series 2018A are $841 million in tax-exempt general obligation bonds; Series 2018B are $389 million in general obligation bonds that are considered federally taxable.

Some of the various projects to be funded by the bonds include:

  • Series 2018A
    • $392 million for grants to county and independent school systems for educational facilities and equipment through the State Board of Education (Department of Education)
    • $232 million to finance projects and facilities for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
  • Series 2018B
    • $123 million to finance projects and facilities for the Technical College System of Georgia
    • $75 million to finance and facilities for the State Road and Tollway Authority

The bonds are general obligations secured by a pledge of the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the State. Details on the purposes, tax-status, security, as well as other matters pertaining to these State of Georgia bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, available on MuniOS.




As of April 2018, the State of Georgia has an unemployment rate of 3.7%, which is 0.2% lower than the U.S. rate in April, and 1.2% lower than the unemployment rate as of April 2017, as can be seen in the chart below.

You can find 10-year employment and labor force trends for all 50 states and each Metropolitan Statistical Area in the U.S. in our Employment Database, and more labor sector growth and compensation data on our Job Market page.

State of Georgia


Georgia

Provided at left (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the State of Georgia as of 06/30/2017, compared with the 2016-2017 medians for other U.S. States, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness)In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.

These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.

by Jeffrey L Garceau