Six entities bid Monday on the $8.5 million bond issue to finance work at Tri-Cities Airport’s Aerospace Park. The result, said Airport Director Patrick Wilson, was a true interest cost of 3.573 percent. “That came in lower than we had anticipated. We had been expecting a rate of around 3.83 percent.”
The difference between the actual bid and the expected bid is around $320,000 in lower overall interest costs to the airport authority. The better rate came in large part because the bond issue received a Aa2 rating from Moody’s Investor Services, Wilson said. All five of the local governments that have backed the project have Aa2 ratings.
Bond counsel from Bass Berry & Sims will meet with Airport Authority Chairman Jon Smith next Thursday to sign the documents necessary for closing, which will take place March 29.
The airport is also in the process of completing the paperwork to receive $4 million from the Tennessee Department of Transportation in Economic Development Grant funding, and has applied for grant funds from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development as well.
