The State Bond Commission on March 20 approved a slate of financing items that included revenue notes to regularize a library loan, parish and port bond issues, a revolving loan program for resiliency projects, and a three-month extension of a hospital bond-anticipation note while USDA review continues.

The approvals included: a $1,125,000 revenue note for the Caldwell Parish Library project; up to $20,000,000 in limited tax revenue bonds for the St. John the Baptist Parish Law Enforcement District; up to $2,000,000 in taxable sales tax bonds for the St. John the Baptist Parish Sales Tax District (including up to $500,000 in partial-forgiveness DEQ funding); up to $35,000,000 in revenue bonds for the Plaquemines Port, Harbor and Terminal District; a not-to-exceed $5,000,000 taxable loan to the Finance Authority of New Orleans to establish a revolving loan fund; and a three-month extension of outstanding bond anticipation notes for Allen Parish Hospital Service District No. 3. The commission also approved an amendment to swap underwriting roles on a general-obligation refunding transaction previously authorized by the commission.

Why it matters: the actions move money for local infrastructure, public safety facilities and housing and aim to regularize one previously unauthorized borrowing by a library board. The commission’s approvals also clear procedural steps that allow local entities to pursue permanent financing or deploy funds if external conditions are met.

Key approvals and notes

• Item 3 — Caldwell Parish Library (revenue notes, not exceeding $1,125,000). Proceeds will repay an interim construction loan taken by the library board in 2023. The library’s construction was completed in May 2024. The board had not obtained Bond Commission approval and lacked legal authority to incur long-term debt; the police jury’s proposed loan will correct that. Representative Reiser moved approval; Senator Lambert seconded. The motion carried with no objections recorded.

• Items 4 and 5 — St. John the Baptist Parish Law Enforcement District (limited tax revenue bonds, not exceeding $20,000,000) and St. John the Baptist Parish Sales Tax District (taxable sales tax bonds, not exceeding $2,000,000). The Sales Tax District financing includes a partial-forgiveness loan of up to $500,000 from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to rehabilitate sewer and sewage disposal facilities. Representative Reiser moved approval; Senator Lambert seconded. No objections were recorded.

• Item 6 — Plaquemines Port, Harbor and Terminal District (revenue bonds, not exceeding $35,000,000). Proceeds will fund multiple port projects including renovations to the port administration building, construction of a water booster station and land acquisition for a new container terminal. Estimated construction cost for all projects is approximately $40,000,000, with $35,000,000 from bond proceeds and the remaining $5,000,000 from port funds and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) port priority reimbursements. Approval was recommended subject to compliance with LARS 3347 12.1. Representative Reiser moved approval; Senator Lambert seconded. No objections were recorded.

• Item 7 — Finance Authority of New Orleans (taxable loan, not exceeding $5,000,000). The loan would establish a revolving loan fund to make short-term subloans to local nonprofits and small businesses for projects that improve resiliency and energy independence (examples cited included fortified roofing and energy-efficient windows). The packet notes that the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) received a $5 billion grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2022; FANO said the CGC funds intended for the program are currently frozen in an account at Citibank and that CGC has initiated legal action to regain access. If CGC regains access and the loan is issued, FANO would have a two-year deployment period for subloans; anticipated subloan averages were described at about $315,000 with maturities of two to three years and interest rates near 6%, and any remaining funds at the end of deployment would be subject to mandatory prepayment. Representative Reiser moved approval; Senator Lambert seconded. No objections were recorded. A public comment from Henry Kenny was included in the meeting packet.

• Item 8 — Allen Parish Hospital Service District No. 3 (amendment to extend outstanding bond-anticipation notes). The hospital issued $15,800,000 in bond anticipation notes in October 2022; permanent USDA financing remains pending approval of project expenditure invoices. The district requested a three-month extension while USDA review is completed. Representative Reiser moved approval; Senator Lambert seconded. No objections were recorded.

• Items 9 and 10 — Cost of issuance reports. Item 9 covered the Town of Delhi’s December 2024 sales tax bonds ($1,370,000) with a net increase of $850 in issuer-counsel costs. Item 10 covered the Louisiana Housing Corporation’s Galilee City Apartments multifamily revenue bonds ($10,450,000) with several fee changes and a reported net decrease of $452,600. No motion was required for these cost reporting items.

• Item 11 — General-obligation refunding recap plus an amendment to swap roles of participating underwriters. The commission heard that $116,875,000 of refunding bonds were priced on March 11 to refund the 2015 A and B bonds, producing gross savings of about $8,700,000 and a net-present-value savings of roughly $7,600,000; that transaction closes March 25. Two firms, Raymond James and Loop, were originally approved as co–senior managers with Raymond James as book runner; staff requested switching roles to make Loop the book runner and Raymond James co–senior manager. Representative Reiser moved approval of the underwriting-role amendment; Senator Lambert seconded. No objections were recorded and the amendment passed.

Other notes and next steps

Staff said pricing for gas-and-fuels tax bonds was scheduled for the morning of March 25 and that a new-money general-obligation bond sale had been set for April 9; the commission plans a public meeting for that competitive sale. The meeting packet contained monthly reports and a list of three applications submitted that did not make the agenda.

Votes at a glance

All voted items were approved with no objections recorded at the meeting; formal tallies were not enumerated in the transcript.

Provenance: Transcript excerpts for agenda item introductions through adjournment are recorded in the meeting transcript.