Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of January 22, 2018: City and County of Honolulu Wastewater Revenue Bonds – $305 Million
The City and County of Honolulu is scheduled to issue $305 million in wastewater system revenue bonds the week of January 22, 2018. The bonds are being issued in four separate series.
- Senior Series 2018A – $219 Million – Tax-exempt; proceeds used to fund capital additions and improvements to the wastewater system.
- Senior Series 2018B – $34 Million – Federally taxable; proceeds used to currently refund certain outstanding bonds
- Junior Series 2018A – $42 Million – Tax-exempt; proceeds used to advance refund certain outstanding bonds
- Junior Series 2018B – $9 Million – Tax-exempt; proceeds used to currently refund certain outstanding bonds
Capital additions and improvements are determined under a long-term Capital Improvement Plan. This planning tool currently estimates project costs and timing of expenditures through 2030. The CIP allows for flexibility in the phasing and priority of projects, by assigning each project to a class of priority ranking. Safety and public health, protection of the environment, and permit and regulatory compliance are considered projects that need ‘immediate’ action. The full schedule of project priorities can be viewed below.
Security for the bonds is a pledge of net revenues, including all income derived from furnishing and supplying of services, all income from investments of moneys held under the Bond Resolutions (a few accounts excepted, including the Rebate Account), as well as additional revenues. The pledges are secured under the First Bond Resolution for the Senior bonds, and under the Second Bond Resolution for the Junior Bonds. Details on the purposes, tax-status, security, as well as other matters pertaining to these Honolulu City and County revenue bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, available on MuniOS.
The City and County of Honolulu encompass the Urban Honolulu, HI Metropolitan Area. As of November 2017, the Honlulu Metropolitan Area has an unemployment rate of 1.9%, which is 2.2% lower than the national rate for November, and 0.5% lower than at the same time in 2016. MuniNet provides this data and more, easily accessible, for all 50 states and each Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country, in our Employment Database.
Provided at left (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the Honolulu City & County Sewer Fund as of 06/30/2017, compared with the medians for other U.S. water/sewer systems, 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