Manassas gets favorable interest rate on bonds for new Baldwin School

The City of Manassas has had its bond rating reconfirmed by Moody’s as Aa1 and by Standard and Poor’s as AA+ with a stable outlook.  These bond ratings have helped the City of Manassas save money with new bonds and previous bond sales, according to Patty Prince, public affairs specialist for the city.

After reaffirming the bond rating, the City of Manassas was able to refinance previous general obligation bonds and airport bonds at much lower interest rates.  In total, there will be $1,455,536 in taxpayer dollars saved over the life of the bonds which will be paid off in 17 years, in 2031, according to Prince.

After a competitive bid process that attracted 11 bidders, the city’s new general obligation bonds were awarded to PNC Capital Markets at a true interest cost of 2.73%.  The $37,342,000 in bonds will be used to build the new Baldwin Elementary School.  Repayment of these bonds plus interest will be completed in 2035.

The new Baldwin Elementary School, a 150,000 square foot building designed with a capacity for 1,100 students, will include an elementary side with pre-kindergarten through fourth grade and an intermediate school side for fifth and sixth grades.  Construction is expected to begin in late January to early February 2015 with a completion date in June 2016.

Some of the reasons cited for the reconfirmed bond ratings were the City of Manassas’ strong economy, strong wealth and income and low unemployment, a city press release stated.