CAMARILLO : New Bond Rating to Save City $1 Million in Lower Interest

Thanks to a new bond rating, the city of Camarillo expects to save $1.055 million by refinancing the bulk of an $8-million bond issue at a lower interest rate, the city manager said last week.

Bill Little said Standard & Poor of New York City assigned the city a bond rating of A- on a scale that can go as high as AAA.

The rating cost the city between $5,000 and $10,000, he said.

“We’re very pleased with it,” he said.

In its attempts to refinance the $7.1 million still owed on the 1988 bond issue for improvements to the Upland Bridge and Road, the city chose to obtain a rating from Standard & Poor over purchasing bond insurance.

Little said the latter option would have been “very expensive.”

The 1988 bonds were issued at an interest rate of 9.5%, while they were refinanced at 6.5%.

The $1.055 million in savings will be realized over the 20-year life of the bonds, based on 1991 dollars, Little said.

This is the first bond rating in recent memory for Camarillo, Little said. He said the New York agency responded to the city’s successful recovery from the $25 million that it lost in 1987 through bad investments.