Buffalo Grove approves $24M bond sale to fund street, water system improvements

Buffalo Grove trustees on Monday voted to approve an approximately $24 million bond issue to finance capital projects, including street, water, sanitary sewer and stormwater system improvements.

The village will repay the debt over 15 years through property taxes.

Village Manager Dane Bragg said 10 bidders placed 47 bids for the bonds when the village conducted an open auction Monday morning. The sale originally was scheduled for March 16, but the disruption of the markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed that sale.

"We saw wild swings in interest rates, a total lack of liquidity," said village financial adviser Anthony Miceli. "There were zero investments being done at that time."

The village's strong AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's helped sell the bonds, Miceli added.

"We are finding that there is still liquidity and investors interested, more so than in lower-rated entities," he said.

The winning bid came from KeyBanc Capital Markets of Denver, with an interest rate of 2.26%. The bonds will close on May 20.