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Taking a realistic look at Washington County debt
The long-term debt is $3,417,000 and breaks down into three bond issues. All these are bonds that have been refinanced so as to achieve a lower interest rate when that is available. The 2001 bonds amount to $420,000. They originally were issued in part to upgrade the courthouse and will be retired completely in 2010. The 2007 bonds amount to $2,310,000. In refinancing these bonds some new money was added to purchase some land. The commission was told (by people in the know) that if the county would buy land they would put the training center for TK on the site. The land was bought and talk was good for many months, but then the decision was made for the training to be done by Bishop State in Mobile County. The county has the land and is looking for a buyer. Several entities have expressed an interest but nothing is final yet. When a sale is made the county could make money on this transaction. This could help to upgrade some bridges or reduce long-term debt. The 2008A bonds amount to $685,000 and are to refinance previous bonds to achieve a lower interest rate and spread out the amount that has to be paid each year. There are short-term lease/purchases which have to be shown on the books as debt. This is lease/purchase of equipment used to work roads and repair/replace bridges. Here is an example for a dump truck. The county gets a large discount as compared to what a contractor would pay to buy the same truck. Let us say the truck lease/purchase price is $108,000 with interest of about $3,000 for a total cost of $111,000. Usually the county will keep and use the truck for a year without any cost except fuel and lubricants. The truck would then be sold and normally the price received would be $3,000 - $5,000 more than the $111,000 owed on it. This money then goes into the district fund or road and bridge fund to which the truck was assigned, to help buy culverts or other road materials. Other pieces of equipment have similar cycles, however the time may be greater than one year. For instance a Caterpillar grader has a three-year cycle therefore some payments have to be made, but normally all the money paid in lease payments are recovered plus a bit more. My point is this, technically, these short-term lease/purchase agreements are debt but actually they usually make a small amount of money which goes back to the county to help fund road or bridge work. The bottom line is the county debt is $3,417,000.
Remember there are no free lunches or free bridges, "however together we can make county government better."
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