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Weddings, Proms, All Formal Occasions Waconia 952-442-6383 |
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Victoria * 952-443-2022 |
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MACKENTHUN’S MEAT & DELI St. Bonifacius * 952-446-1234 |
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St. Bonifacius * 952-446-1338 |
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Leuthner Well Company Victoria * 952-443-2582 |
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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City Scoop Continued |
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*** The Metropolitan Council consists of 17 members appointed by the State Governor representing 17 metro districts. The Council -- its operating and capital budgets, work program, and capital improvement program -- is overseen by something called the Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Government. Membership of that Commission consists of 7 Minnesota State Senators and 7 Minnesota State Representatives who are appointed by the Senate Subcommittee on Committees of the Committee on Rules and Administration, the Senate majority leader, the Speaker of the House, and the House minority leader. The Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Government meets annually.
UPGRADE IN CREDIT RATING FOR VICTORIA AND GOOD INTEREST RATE ON BABS Council approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of taxable Build America Bonds in the amount of $3,435,000. The vote was 4-0. Mayor Mary Thun was absent. The bonds will finance Victoria’s 2009 street and utility improvements as well as the downtown Phase II street improvement projects. Tom Pfannenstiel from Northland Securities presented the results of the bond sale on October 13th. “As you are aware, we solicited bids for both taxable and tax-exempt bonds,” he said. “We received three bids today, all of them of the taxable variety. Low bid was 3.27% net. Overall that was really a good bid. All bids were generally close. The other two were 3.38% and 3.48%.” “The BABS bond program has expanded the pool of buyers,” he continued. “There is a $140,000 benefit for Victoria over the next 15 years. We recommend accepting the bid from Robert W. Baird.” Robert W. Baird is a Midwest-based employee-owned investment company honored as one of the Fortune 100 best companies to work for. Said Councilmember Kim Roden, “I met with the elected officials of Carver County group and found out that none of them are doing bonding right now. We are among a select few.” Added Mr. Pfannenstiel, “You are also among the few getting upgrades in this market.” Earlier that evening Jylan Johnson, the city’s finance director, had reported that the City of Victoria had a credit rating upgrade from AA to AA+. “The rationale for the upgrade is based on the city’s good financial management, a trend of positive general fund operations -- including the Victoria Recreation Center -- and maintaining very strong reserves. It’s a stable outlook,” she said. Jylan added, “We have been building reserves in the event of a shortfall. We’re not relying on one large property owner for our revenues. The income level is strong in this area.” She said that Standard and Poor’s obtained information about the City of Victoria through city telephone conferencing with parties from Chicago and New York. Standard and Poor’s is the world’s foremost provider of independent credit ratings and risk evaluation. Councilmember Jim Paulsen stated what he had just heard: “This rating is being issued without them ever coming to Victoria.” Explained City Administrator Don Uram, “We did ask for a Triple A rating and they just weren’t ready to go there yet. We invited them for a visit. We discussed with them the decisions Council has made and adjustments based on the economy. We will get S&P out here at some point and give them the big tour.” Said Councilmember Roden regarding the upgrade in credit rating for the city, “I think it’s partially due to the work that the mayor and Jim Paulsen did with the School District. It gave us a much improved financial condition.” Councilmember Tom O’Connor said, “We also know that no matter what the rating is, we are not in bad shape. There are not many public entities that can say they’re in reasonably good shape today. We’re not perfect but we’re in better shape than some of our sister public institutions.”
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November 2009 |