Porter County moves forward with $25 million capital projects bond

On Tuesday evening, the Porter County Council held its first public hearing on preliminary determination to issue a $25 million bond for capital projects throughout the county, including $18.3 million to complete renovations to the Porter County Jail.

Few people were in attendance and the only public comment was to enquire how taxes would be affected. The tax rate is expected to go up by a little over a penny according to Jason Sempler, principal with Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors. For a homeowner with an assessed value of $200,000, for example, property taxes would increase $10 to $12 per month, Semler said.

He said the county can expect approximately a $1.8 million annual payment for the next 20 years. “You’ve had a lot of growth in your county,” he said. “If you continue to grow the tax rate will continue to decrease.”

For example, the proposed rate for the second bond is $0.0124, while the rate for the first bond is $0.0148. “The sooner we can sell these, November, early December, I think the better rate we’ll get,” he added.

Council Vice President Red Stone, R-1st, asked about refinancing options on the proposed bond. After a lock-up period of eight to 10 years, the county would be eligible to refinance the bond.

Bond Counsel James Shanahan of Taft Law said the bonds would need to be sold by the end of the year. Porter County’s credit rating rose in the past year from an A- to an A. Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, asked what goes into a county’s credit rating. Shanahan said governance and fund balances play a large role.

The next public hearing on the proposed second bond will be at the council meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.