An effort to keep state dollars in North Carolina came to fruition today at the N.C. Capital Facilities Finance Agency (NCCFFA) meeting. This group, chaired by State Treasurer Brad Briner, adopted new guidelines earlier this year aimed at making it easier for nonprofit institutions, particularly schools, to issue bonds in North Carolina. Today, two schools used the flexibility afforded by that policy change to bring projects before the NCCFFA and the Local Government Commission.
The Montessori School of Raleigh (Wake County) sought to refund $5 million in bonds and Pine Lake Preparatory (Iredell County) issued $37 million in conduit revenue bonds to refinance outstanding bonds and finance the construction of other capital projects on campus.
“This is a win for North Carolina” said Treasurer Briner. “Schools and nonprofits in our state should not have to issue bonds outside of our border due to burdensome regulation. I am thrilled that this policy change has created a more attractive market and look forward to more projects coming before our agencies.”
The new guidelines add oversight of these projects here in North Carolina versus out-of-state. They allow for final bond maturities of up to 40 years, in accordance with the maximum final maturity allowed by statute. The previous guidelines called for final bond maturities of 20 years. Over the past decade, when the previous guidelines were in place, more than twice as many qualified borrowers sought services outside of North Carolina than through NCCFFA.