MS Bonds (MS Municipal Bonds)
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The State of Mississippi issues general obligation taxable and tax-exempt bonds on the regular basis to fund its investments in the state’s infrastructure and development. These bonds are secured by the state’s full faith and credit, which is the best security a US State Government can provide to the repayment of its long-term debts. While the maturity date of the taxable MS bonds (MS Municipal Bonds) does not generally exceed 30 years, for tax-exempt bonds it is not more than 20 years from the date of issue.[br]
The following MS general obligation (GO) bonds issued by the state in October 2009 received the ‘AA’ rating from Fitch Ratings at the time of issue:
- $340,375,000 taxable GO bonds, series 2009D
- $120,000,000 taxable GO bonds, series 2009E
- $64,145,000 GO refunding bonds, series 2009F
- $98,300,000 GO Build America Bonds, series 2009G (Direct Payment – Federally Taxable)
The rating outlook for these bonds was Stable. Both the ratings and outlook were based on the State’s impressive reserve levels, diversifying economy, a conservative borrowing approach and financial best practices.
Profile of MS Bonds
Some of the MS bonds and their profiles are:[br]
- University of Mississippi (UM) Educational Building Corporation (EBC) bonds: Approximately $15.2 million of revenue bonds, series 2009C-1 (Residential College Project – Phase II) and Build America Bonds, series 2009C-2 (Residential College Project – Phase II, Federally Taxable Build America Bonds) were issued by UM EBC bonds in late September and early October. Fitch Ratings assigned an ‘AA-‘ rating to these bonds in September 2009, reflecting significant security offered by revenues generated by the designated Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). At the same time, Fitch affirmed its ‘AA-‘ rating on roughly $125.7 million in outstanding UM EBC bonds and $162.5 million in Mississippi State University (MSU) EBC bonds.
- Mississippi Hospital Equipment and Facilities Authority’s series 2007A and series 2000 bonds: These bonds were issued for the benefit of Forrest County General Hospital (FCGH). Fitch Ratings retained its underlying ‘A’ rating and stable rating outlook on the outstanding bonds in January 2009. The rating was supported by FCGH’s consistently leading market position, manageable debt burden and the return to healthy operations after registering operating losses in FY07.
