City maintains bond rating, receives more compensation

The city of Vermilion has managed to maintain its bond rating despite other neighboring communities seeking reductions after a decrease in business this year.

Mayor Jim Forthofer said during a Nov. 2 City Council meeting that the city had a Moody’s Investors Service call recently, which ended in Vermilion’s A1 rating.

Finance director Amy Hendricks said during the meeting that the call was just in time for a successful bond sale in the city, which included the refinancing of $3.74 million in bonds with three bidders.

This sale is projected to lead to a savings of over $680,000 over the next 12year period, Hendricks said.

“This will be additional money in the funds available for projects that are impacted, as well as dropping off a full year of payments for the appropriations related to special assessments for those property owners and project areas,” she said.

Other recent refinances also resulted in savings for the city, Hendricks said.

A 2019 refinancing of just under $2 million in bonds has resulted in a savings of $85,000 in interest charges over the life of those bonds, she said.

That brings the city’s interest savings up to $766,000, Hendricks said.

Debt payments also were broken down to bite-size pieces for the city, with the issuing of bonds against about $4 million in notes that was rolled for previous years in 2018.

“These have increased debt payments slightly,” Hendricks said, adding that payments are scheduled to be completed on a regular schedule.

She said new revenue is coming to the city through the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, with a second rebate of $75,000 received for employee salaries.

Hendricks said a third rebate of $275,000 was recently approved by the bureau and should be on its way to Vermilion’s budget.

“Once that money is received, it will be allocated back to the funds where the payroll was originally paid that amounted to those premiums,” she said. “That will be a nice boost for the city.”