Smith County Commissioners approve sale of courthouse bonds

SMITH COUNTY — The Smith County Commissioners Court on Tuesday voted to approve the sale of the voter-approved general obligation courthouse bonds after receiving five competitive bids. Specialized Public Finance Inc. competitively bid the Limited Tax Courthouse Bonds, which will net the county $160 million to pay for construction of the new courthouse. Closing on the sale is set for September 21, 2023. Steven Adams, managing director of Specialized Public Finance Inc., gave a brief presentation to the Commissioners Court, and reaffirmed that Smith County’s high rating of AA+ helped the County attract competitive bidders. “Five bids are really good for a bond issuance of this size,” Adams said.

Jefferies LLC was the winning bid, with a true interest cost of 4.43 percent, Adams said. Because the interest rate is so low, the bond will result in a “minimal tax rate increase to pay these bonds back,” he added. The debt service portion of the total tax rate that is being increased for Smith County taxpayers “is required to be increased to pay for the bond passed by the voters,” Adams said.

The $179 million bond, which includes $160 million for the new courthouse and $19 million for a parking garage, was approved by 53.73 percent of the vote in November 2022.

The Proposed FY24 Budget was filed August 15, and includes a proposed tax rate of .347264 cents per $100 valuation, an increase from the current tax rate of 33 cents.

Two public hearings were held on the proposed budget and tax rate — at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 22. An additional public hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. on September 5, 2023, at which time the FY24 Budget is scheduled to be adopted.