Jefferson County has completed its refinance of $2.24 billion in sewer revenue warrants for a gross savings of $1.17 billion, which reduces the county’s payments on the overall sewer debt.

Additionally, the refunding was accomplished without extending the maturity of the sewer debt. The refinance includes a provision for a customer assistance program and stabilizes rate increases.

“We were actually excited about this,” said Joe Knight, chairman of the County Commission’s finance committee. “We dreaded the last time but not this time. It was very exciting. And when we saw the orders start coming in, it was just phenomenal because there was a lot of money out there on the table in a short period of time to sell these bonds.”

The demand for the Jefferson County bonds was so great that they had oversold in just 11 minutes, which means there were more orders than bonds to buy.

“It ended up to where there was $2.2 billion to be sold and we had orders for $26 billion,” Knight said.

Commission President Jimmie Stephens said successful refinance of the sewer debt was evidence that investors have paid attention to the professionalism Jefferson County has displayed the past decade.

“That degree of professionalism did not precede us,” Stephens said. “When we came out of bankruptcy, we made promises to our citizens and our creditors that we (would) restore accountability and credibility to the sewer system. Today was an affirmation of that.”

County Manager Cal Markert echoed that sentiment, saying, “The result of the transaction is a reflection of the county staff and the Department of Environmental Services, who has created a sustainable, well-run department that is capable of serving the citizens for many years to come.”

Knight said people who had county bonds for the past 10 years knew what the county has done. He said county leaders fielded “hard questions” from investors as they prepared to go to market.

“Especially on our sewer side,” Knight said. “Those were hard questions that we sat there and answered for days. Those people in the market, they have watched us over the last several years, and they see what we’ve done.”

Lashunda Scales, chair of the county’s public works committee, said the refinanced sewer debt represents the effectiveness and compassion of the current Jefferson County Commission. Scales said the commission displayed “strong advocation for lower debt re-payments on behalf of county residents and stakeholders, more specifically Districts 1 and 2, and intensive marketing efforts to investors (that) resulted in the county’s ability to stabilize annual rate increases of 3.49% for 30 years, including two minority underwriting firms at 15%, and a provision for a customer assistance program for eligible residents is huge.”

Stephens said the commission has long talked about implementing a sewer assistance program. “With this refunding, we will finally have the tools in place to get that done,” he said.

Knight explained that the sewer assistance program will allow the county to secure contractors who can fix a leak in a waterline or an issue with a customer’s sewer.

“If you’ve got a leak in your waterline, then your water bill is gonna go up and subsequently your sewer bill is gonna go up,” the finance chairman said. “But if you stop that leak, it’ll flatten out your bill.”

Knight added that the refinance of the sewer debt will allow the county to invest in expanding the sewer to new neighborhoods, new industrial park areas and new businesses.

Knight acknowledged that it was a bit surprising that the refinance of the debt went so well.

“But we put a lot of hard work in, not just the last six months but the last 10 years,” he said. “We built it back, put the pieces in place in this county that maybe weren’t there before. We’re much better off today and the citizens are much better off today because of it.”