Olympia, WA – Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti approved a series of refunding bonds today, saving more than $4.3 million in debt service costs on bonds that had been originally issued to finance a portion of the State Route 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program.
Taking advantage of opportunities to reduce the state’s debt service costs, Pellicciotti has prioritized refinancing eligible debt, ultimately saving Washingtonians over a third of a billion dollars since 2021. The Federal Highway Grant Anticipation Revenue Bonds (GARVEE Bonds) issued on June 6, 2012, became eligible for refinancing this month.
“It has been my priority to use our strong credit ratings during this past year of favorable interest rates to refinance every dollar of debt we could legally refinance to save Washingtonians money,” said State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti. “We want to keep every dollar we can right here in our state rather than send funds off to Wall Street in the form of interest payments.”
In April 2022, Pellicciotti approved the refinancing of $1.4 billion in previously issued state debt, creating approximately $86 million in debt service savings. In total, refinancings have produced $385 million in future debt service savings since Pellicciotti first took office.
Sale Summary:
Federal Highway Grant Anticipation Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series R-2022E (GARVEE)
The state sold $118,155,000 of GARVEE Bonds Series R-2022E, through negotiated sale, with BofA Securities, Inc. serving as senior managing underwriter, and J.P. Morgan LLC and Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC serving as co-managing underwriters. The transaction, which has a final maturity of September 1, 2024, was sold with a Total Interest Cost (TIC) of 2.29%, producing net present value savings of $4.3 million, or 3.61%.