South Coast Air Quality Management District

Finance Committee

SYNOPSIS: 

The Finance Committee met Friday June 14, 2002 and discussed the issues detailed in the Committee report.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file this report.

Michael D. Antonovich,
Finance Committee

Attendance: Present were Committee members Michael Antonovich, Jane Carney, and Leonard Paulitz. Absent were Committee members William Burke and Norma Glover.

Discussion Items:
Discussion of Child Care Facility Lease: Eudora Tharp, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer/Administrative & Human Resources, informed the Committee that the agency received only one bid (from the current operator) to lease the Child Care Center and that staff was seeking a recommendation from the Committee whether to award the bid to the current operator. The AQMD released the first RFP for lease of the Child Care Facility last October but received no bids. At that time, it was thought that other bidders were not interested believing that the current operator would be bidding on the lease. The RFP was re-released in March of 2002 with the hope that bids would be received once other bidders knew that the current operator was not interested. Staff provided the Committee with enrollment statistics for each of the two past operators and the current operator, and a list of lease management concerns regarding the current operator. After a lengthy Committee discussion regarding the steps staff has taken to identify other possible operators who might be interested in the facility and the fact that enrollment has dropped to 35% of capacity with only three AQMD children enrolled, the Committee voted to recommend the Board not accept the proposal and that the facility be used for other purposes.

Report on Status of Refunding Series 2002 Bonds: Rick Pearce, Chief Financial Officer, briefed the Committee on the June 4, 2002 competitive sale of its Refunding Series 2002 Bonds. The AQMD received six bids and awarded the sale to UBS PaineWebber Inc., which submitted the lowest True Interest Cost bid. The sale resulted in Present Value (PV) savings of $1,971,068 (7.74%) which is approximately triple the $700,000 estimated PV savings presented to the Board at its May 3 meeting. The AQMD also received underlying ratings for its bonds from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service of A+ and A1 respectively. This refunding resulted in the restructuring of the outstanding debt to level-out debt service for the remaining thirteen years of the bonds and produced budget savings of $2,477,252.

Other Business: None

Public Comment: None

/ / /