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Washoe County Bond Bank
(The County Now Has A New Toy called a "Bond Bank")
Washoe County's Ruling Triumvirate

 On Dec. 13, 2011 - The Bond Bank issue, item No. 60, opened with Finance Director John Sherman declaring that with the added language this ordinance is specific to TMWA.

See the Videos below, one is only 15 min. long, yet captures and conveys the sprit of what transpired. The next two, capture the full discussion.

The last video is Item #49 which was agendized as a status report regarding the merger of DWR and TMWA. In fact it was an extensive discussion involving the Bond Bank.

Click here to see prvious Bond Bank article

At the conclusion of the Public comment period, County Clerk, Amy Harvey announced she had a written comment from Richard Pugh a former member of Debt Management Commission, Chairman Breternitz instructed the clerk not to read it into the record. Following is what Chairman Breternitz was afraid of!

“I rise in opposition to the “Bond Bank” item on the agenda today having served several terms as Vice Chairman and Chairman of what was originally called the Washoe County General Obligation Bond Commission and later renamed the Washoe County Debt Management Commission. I doubt commissions on which I served those 16 years would have approved of this departure from standard operating procedures.
The questions today: Is this a sound idea…. and will the best interests of Washoe County tax payers be served by passage of this ordinance?
Others here today will provide extensive financial details all supporting and urging a “NO” vote on this item.”
Richard G. Pugh
Reno, NV 89509

Richard Pugh had been a member of Washoe County Debt Management Commission from 1988 to 2009 and its Chairman in 2003. 2005 and 2007

Another Option (no need for a “Bond Bank”)
The stated purpose for this exercise was to complete the merger deal with TMWA.  A simple solution would have been to arrange a debt structure, and TMWA would have made appropriate payments to the county, with no need for a Bond Bank.

Another Consideration
The County's current general obligation debt limit of 10% of total assessed value of the County. Finally, the State bond bank law limits the total amount of debt by the county Bond Bank to an amount not exceeding 15 percent of the total assessed valuation of the taxable property of the County.  This leaves an effective debt limit of 25% of the total assessed valuation of the taxable property of the County.

The final vote was

Upon passage commisioner Larkin asked for an amendment be brought to the commission, dealing with a super majority and a new monatary limit.

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