Glastonbury Officials Hailing Low Rates For Land Acquisition Bonds

GLASTONBURY, CT — Glastonbury officials are hailing what they considering to be "competitive interest rates" on a recent $2.155 million bond sale for land acquisitions to solid reviews from major Wall Street ratings agencies.

The bond issuance was to support the Glastonbury's ongoing Land Acquisition and Preservation program.

Four properties are involved:

• 95 acres on Dayton Road
• Nearly 30 acres on Overlook Road
• 11.3 acres on Wood Pond Road
• About 23 acres on Matson Road, the Rose's Berry Farm parcel

"It is great to see these results, and that the town's bonds were in such a high demand," Glastonbury Town Manager Jonathan Luiz said. "We are very pleased with this outcome, as it keeps our debt service costs as low as possible, and minimizes the burden on the taxpayers."

The town received nine bids on the bonds, with Fidelity Capital Markets submitting the winning bid at 2.74 percent, officials said.

Fidelity, which also provided the best bid on the town’s last bond sale in February of 2022, surpassed firms like StoneX Financial Inc., a relative newcomer in the Connecticut municipal bond underwriting market, who was the next closest.

Bidders also included Bancroft Capital LLC, Robert W Baird, Roosevelt & Cross, and BNY Mellon Capital Markets. Bids ranged from 2.74 to 2.91 percent, officials said.

"The municipal market has experienced enhanced volatility with rising rates since the start of 2022," said Matthew Spoerndle, the senior managing director of Phoenix Advisors and Glastonbury's municipal adviser. "Fortunately, since the beginning of 2023, municipal rates have stabilized and outperformed Treasuries, which, along with the Town’s exceptional credit rating and financial management, enabled the Town to lock in a very favorable rate. It’s pretty unusual for a relatively small issue to get so many bids. Congratulations to the Town of Glastonbury!"

Moody’s and S&P both affirmed Glastonbury’s bond rating at Aaa and AAA respectively, which are the highest ratings available. In a recent report, Moody’s referenced the town’s "robust reserves and liquidity supported by stable property tax revenues" and "low leverage and fixed costs," referencing "manageable debt and pension liabilities."

Moody's also mentioned "management's conservative budgetary practices" as a credit strength. Additionally, the report highlighted the "strong resident incomes and property wealth."

Officials said a recent S&P report mirrored many of Moody’s sentiments and also mentioned the Town's "well-embedded and comprehensive policies and practices, including a long-term financial and capital plan, and formalized policies for investments, debt, and reserves, supported by a very strong institutional framework" and "annual surpluses, supporting a high reserve and liquidity position" as key characteristics to the maintenance of the AAA rating.

The settlement date for the sale is June 29, after which the funds become available to the town.