Oxford First Selectman George R. Temple announced Thursday that the Town of Oxford had a savings of $1,435,497.96 on the refinancing of a portion of its outstanding debt. The refinancing took place Tuesday (April 24).
Temple said he was very pleased with the results as the refinancing represents a saving of over $100 for every resident in town and praised the hard work of Finance Director James Hliva.
“Jim Hliva was instrumental in taking a proactive position on refinancing. I appreciate his initiative and ‘can do’ attitude. The people of Oxford owe him a debt of thanks,” said Temple.
The savings will begin on July 1, 2012 and continue on an annual basis until 2029. In next year’s operating budget the savings will be $109,144.73. The majority of the debt that was refinanced was for the construction of Oxford High School.
Temple and Hliva planned and executed the refinancing. The Town was also assisted by Mark Chapman of Independent Bond and Joseph Fasi of the law firm of Fasi Law.
The bonds were purchased by Roosevelt and Cross of New York City. Hliva said that when he spoke with Roosevelt and Cross on Tuesday afternoon the firm said it had already begun to market the bonds to investors and were having very positive results.
The refinancing of the bonds, which is also called a refunding, is comparable to residents refinancing their home mortgage, but is done in the bond market, instead of the homeowner going to their personal lending institutions.
Hliva said the present value savings was 9.45 percent, which he said is excellent. Hliva said anything in excess of 3 percent is good and Oxford far exceeded that benchmark.
On Monday, the town learned that Moody’s Investor Service of New York affirmed the town’s bond rating at Aa2. An Aa rating is the second best rating given by Moody’s. Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk. The modifier 2 indicates a mid-range ranking.
