The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved the sale of $8,140,000 in General Obligation Refunding Bonds.
Funds from the new issue bonds will be used to pay off the remaining debt from the county’s 2007 Capital Improvement Bonds.
Those bonds were issued to fund construction of the county’s public works facility in Becker and the jail expansion project.
The bonds totalled $13,935,000 with an average bond interest rate of 4.58% and a maturity date of February, 2023.
Last Month, the county contracted with Northland Securities for the bond sale. Tuesday, George Eilertson, senior vice president of public finance with Northland, said there was a lot of bidding activity to purchase the bonds, since the county’s bond rating had been upgraded to AA+.
The low bidder was Stifel, Niclaus & Co. Inc of Memphis, TN with a bid of $8,129,243.65.
The new interest rate will average 2.01% and will reduce the average debt service payment by more than $150,000 a year, saving the county $1,099,220 over the life of the bonds.
Broadband Projects
The board approved the submission of a Blandin Community Broadband Program grant request to assist in the creation of a network for public internet access at the Sherburne County History Center in Becker and the county fairgrounds in Elk River.
Cost estimates for the fairgrounds project is $40,000 and $57,000 for the History Center project.
The Blandin Foundation will grant up to $25,000 for each project, with the remainder coming from the county’s 2015 Information Technology (IT) budget.
Other Business
In other action the board:
• Approved a property tax abatement of $862 for Thomas Hammer of Big Lake for a house that was torn down in 2013 but was never removed from the estimated market value on the property;
• Approved a property tax abatement of $54.16 for Christopher Fern because of a structural fire at his property on 150th Street in Zimmerman in August, 2014;
• Authorized the auditor/treasurer to hold a tax forfeited land sale, date to be determined later;
• Approved out-of-state travel and lodging expenses for two child support officers to attend a leadership symposium in Milwaukee, MW Aug. 9-12. The county will receive 66% reimbursement for all costs related to the symposium;
• Approved updates to the contract with Hyland Onbase to convert the county’s digital imaging database at a maximum cost of $79,750;
• Approved a budget of $24,000 for temporary professional consulting services in the IT department;
• Approved a request to advertise for bids for highway safety improvement program projects on County Roads 42, 83, 93, 51 and 10;
• Approved a request to advertise for bids to construct a right turn and bypass lane on Co. Rd. 9 two miles east of Co. Rd. 5;
• Proclaimed the week of May 3-9 as National Correction Officers Week;
• Approved the hiring of Doug Conway as the county’s new IT Network Engineer at a starting rate of $33.31 per hour;
•Approved the final contract payment of $117,881.23 to Hardrives for the reconstruction of Co. Rd. 15 from Hwy. 10 to 211th Ave.;
• Approved the final payment of $1,874.98 to Morgan Construction for the demolition of the 54th Street Bridge in Haven Twp.
