Washington, D.C. Issuing $941.5 General Obligation Bonds

District of Columbia General Obligation Bonds $578 Million | MuniNet Featured Bond

Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 2/11/2019: District of Columbia General Obligation Bonds

This week’s featured bond comes from the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. The District is issuing general obligation bonds in the amount of $941,840,000 the week of February 11, 2019 by negotiated sale.  The issue is being brought to market by a group led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The bonds are scheduled to be issued in one series; Series 2019A,  which will be used to fund capital project expenditures to refund outstanding bond anticipation notes.

Security for the bonds is the general obligation and full faith and credit of the District, as well as a special statutorily created perfected security interest in, and first priority lien on, special real property tax revenues, to be levied annually.  The District is obligated to set aside the revenue derived from the Special Real Property Tax in a separate debt service fund to be maintained separate from other funds of the District. The District has the right to use other funds not otherwise legally committed to provide for payments on the Bonds.

About the District

The District’s 2017 population was 702,455 and has been growing steadily over the past five years.   As of  December, 2018, the District’s unemployment rate stood at 4.8%,  which is 0.5% lower than the same time last year, and 1.1% higher than the national rate.   According the Bureau of Labor Statistics,  the Washington D.C. metropolitan area has an unemployment rate of 3.9%, which is 0.3% lower than the same time last year, and 1.0% lower than the national average.

Government jobs, which account for 30% of the District’s employment base numbered around 237,000 at the close of 2018, which is only about 1,000 jobs higher than at the end of 2014.   The District’s per capita personal income hit the $82,170 mark in 2018.   The Washington D.C. metropolitan area is the sixth largest in the U.S. with a total populatiin of 6.2 million in 2017.

 

According to the bond prospectus, the bonds have been rated Aaa by Moody’s,  AA+,  by S&P Global Ratings Group and AA+ by Fitch.

 

These details and more on purposes, security, and other matters pertaining to these District of Columbia general obligation bonds can the found in the official statement, provided by MuniOS.   After registering, visitors can link directly to the official statement as well as an investor’s roadshow by searching for the District of Columbia.

 

 

 

Statistical Snapshot of District of Columbia Selected Financial and Economic Indicators

 

Financial Snapshot District of Columbia

Source: Merritt Research Services, LLC; Financial FY 2018 Snapshot of the District of Columbia.

Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the District of Columbia, along with the medians for other 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 calendarcity, 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.  

Potential investors should rely only on the official documents and figures provided in the official statement (prospectus).  Although the numbers presented in this summary are primarily derived from public documents, including issuer audits, issuer reports and other public sources such as federal reporting agencies ,  they are not intended to replace official information presented in connection with the bond sale. Medians may differ from official sales documents due to methodology or survey base variances.