POLL: Should Pittsburgh Borrow $80 Million for Capital Projects? (Washington, Ellsworth: refinancing, maintenance)

[BrianTH]

Council President Darlene Harris predicted that council will approve the budgets but wasn't sure how the bond issue will fare when separate legislation authorizing a borrowing comes up for a vote in January. The capital budget can be amended if council rejects or modifies the bond issue proposal, she noted.

I approve this omelet plan, except for the breaking eggs part.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I approve this omelet

Mmmmm...omelet.

[ML North]

After two months of debating, approving, disapproving, and more debating, it seems like the mayor’s office, City Council, and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority have all agreed on a plan for Pittsburgh to borrow a hefty $80 million.

$80 Million in Bonds Ready for City Council Passage | Essential Public Radio

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by ML North

$80 Million in Bonds Ready for City Council Passage | Essential Public Radio

I'll be curious to see the nature of Council's relationship with the Mayor going forward, especially given the possibility of new alliances:

New alliance keeps Harris in Pittsburgh council presidency

This strikes me as a good thing.

[BrianTH]

An aside on whether this is really the biggest bond issue in City history, as per EPR:

Nullspace: There is large, and there is large

But in any event, I'll be interested to see how the new Capital Project Facilitation Committee functions. It is going to have a lot of inherent power, but supposedly will follow "a strict set of guidelines." That can work, but usually requires a lot of transparency so that compliance with those guidelines can be monitored--and historically, transparency within these obscure but important locals bodies has not been our strong suit.

I also agree some sort of health working relationship between Council and the Mayor would be great. Legitimate differences of opinion are one thing, but there has been way too much of what looks like point-scoring and blood-letting for no real purpose.

[gg]

Seems our readers overwhelmingly favor NOT digging deeper in debt, judging by the poll.

[Lobick]

All things considered, sounds like the sale went well:

Pittsburgh reaps $80 million for projects from bond sale

[UKyank]

From the article:

The team marketed the bonds Monday. Market conditions were so exceptional, city finance director Scott Kunka said, that some investors were willing to pay more than face value for the bonds.

That's scary if a city finance director said this with suprise, if your not getting more then face value on a bond in today's market then you are in terrible financial shape.

They did do very well though, with the 2022 maturities selling for over $117.

[BrianTH]

3.29% with no bond insurance is indeed quite good. Not to question the collective wisdom represented in the poll, but with borrowing rates this low, and no shortage of worthy capital projects, and still a lot of unemployed construction workers around, it does seem like a pretty good idea. But on the other hand I am glad all this got tied to new and (hopefully improved) reporting and allocation procedures.

[Clint.]

I'll be very curious to see what the City intends to do with this money. If it's an investment that brings good returns, then great. Paving roads, building playgrounds and razing buildings doesn't strike me as anything very ambitious.