The town of Providence Village received rave reviews on the bond market, according to Hilltop Securities Managing Director Jim Sabonis.
Sabonis presented the council with its bond results during the July 1 meeting, doing so with a stated excitement.
“This is the kind of sale you want to be a part of,” Sabonis said. “There is nothing that could have been done better, you exceeded expectations.”
In addition to a twostage increase in rating from Moody’s, the town’s bonds will sale at 30-basis points higher than they were projected to.
“In the first week of May, the GO bond buyer index of 20-year bonds actually had an index of about 514,” Sabonis said. “Last Friday it came in at 520. There has been about a 30-basis point improvement for your bonds from where the price point was as presented to you versus what we actually sold at today.”
The town will receive $16,495,000 to fund a list of infrastructure improvements, projected at a total cost of $15.9 million.
Despite the sizable bond package given the town’s size, “This will not cause an increase on your I&S tax rate,” Sabonis said.
It will do this, in part, by utilizing the town’s debt service balance to keep the interest and sinking side of the tax rate as it stands.
Earlier in the meeting, State Rep. Jared Patterson took a moment during the meeting to update the council and community on the work he and the rest of the House did during the most recent legislative session.
“This session, like the last couple, property taxes have been the big issue for us in Austin,” Patterson said. “As you know, the state of Texas does not actually set a property tax. It’s the local governments that do, yet the No. 1 complaint we get from residents is, ‘My property taxes are too high.’” He shared the legislation appropriated a quarter of its budget, $51 billion, toward that goal.
“What it is, is mainly shoveling cash into the public school system and offsetting what local taxpayers have to pay,” Patterson said. “We’re going to need your help for that. This year we’re going to have a constitutional amendment election where we’ll need y'all to approve some amendments related to property tax relief.”
The ballot will include an increase to the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 for residents and from $110,000 to $200,000 for seniors. It will also again compress tax rates and offer a higher business-personal property tax exemption.
He also touched on water research.
“Water was really one of the major topics that we discussed, and we kicked off a brand-new water plan, $20 billion in total and about $2.5 billion this cycle alone on new efforts, to fund our water infrastructure in Texas,” Patterson said.
He described the current work in the area as largely investigatory, with funding going toward finding the best solution.
