LYNN— Chief Financial Officer Michael Bertino and City Treasurer Elyse Fannon announced the city sold two bond issues, the proceeds of which will be used to finance municipal projects.
Fidelity Capital Markets and Robert W. Baird & Co, Inc. agreed to buy the bonds from Lynn at low interest rates, allowing the city to pay back less debt to the bond buyer.
“We sold the bonds and the money is going to go to municipal projects from the fiscal year 2022 budget,” Bertino said. “They can be found under the capital improvements section.”
The budget, which was passed under former Mayor Thomas M. McGee’s administration, has $8 million invested in capital improvements.
These improvements include the replacement of two fire pumpers, five police vehicles, seven Department of Public Works (DPW) vehicles and six vehicles for other departments; the replacement of antiquated parking technology; irrigation replacements at Gannon Golf Course and Gallagher and Frey parks; and improvements to Fraser and Manning fields.
Fidelity Capital Markets offered an interest rate of 3.17 percent for a $12.2 million 30-year tax-exempt bond while Robert W. Baird & Co, Inc. offered a rate of 3.6 percent for a $4.31 million 20-year taxable bond.
Bertino said the city received a total of three bids on the tax-exempt bonds and two bids on the taxable bonds.
The bids for the bond issues came after the Standards & Poor’s upgraded the city’s underlying bond rating from A to A Plus on March 8.
Companies and entities that buy municipal bonds, known as bond underwriters, see municipalities who have a higher rating at a lower risk of defaulting on paying back the bond.
Mayor Jared Nicholson said the upgraded rating highlights the city’s improving financial status since it took a $14 million loan from the state in 2018.
“Standard & Poor’s upgrade to ‘A Plus’ is great news for the city and encouraging affirmation that we continue to head in the right direction,” Nicholson said. “This journey to more stable financial footing, while balancing the local strain of a global pandemic, would not have been possible without the leadership of former Mayor Tom McGee, our CFO Michael Bertino, city councilors, and the entire team that works for the city.”
Bertino said that these bonds are different from the $18.75 million in state qualified bonds the city wishes to sell for repairs for the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, and the takings of a former Century Bank building at 2 State St. and a building owned by Element Care at 37 Friend St. through the use of eminent domain.
The city has not received competitive bids or sold the bonds for those three projects yet, he said.
