The Columbia County Hospital Authority approved a supplemental resolution regarding revenue anticipation certificates during a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Chairman James Allen said the approving of this resolution was important because it’s a big step in getting the hospital built in Columbia County.
“When we originally started talking about getting a hospital in Columbia County, we had to go through the State of Georgia’s CON (certificate of need) process and there were several pathways to accomplish that,” said Allen. “The one that fit us best was, after negotiating with the state and the legislature, offering to put some skin in the game. In this case a 20% match of the funding of hospital. So this, by passing this resolution today, the authority was able to make that an official issuance of certificates to back that 20% and to approve that the hospital is moving forward with their certificates to go ahead and begin funding the hospital.”
Attorney Jon Pannell, who is special counsel to the county for the hospital transaction, reminded board members that in July, the Hospital Authority approved moving forward on up to $375 million worth of hospital certificates/bonds to build the new hospital in Columbia County. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Bank of America, who is the lead underwriter of the bond issue, sold the bonds.
“There were actually four series of bonds sold by Wellstar, two for the Columbia County Hospital Authority, one for a facility in Augusta, which is a refinancing and one for a facility in Cobb County…that is also a refinancing,” Pannell said.
The supplemental resolution relates to authorizing the bonds related to the hospital in Columbia County. The final amount for series A certificates is for $279,205,000 and for the series B certificates are $57,405,000.
“The B certificates are the ones that have the county’s backing,” Pannell said. “So the intergovernmental contract that Columbia County has agreed to enter into with the Hospital Authority to secure up to 20% of the hospital bonds is the reason for that second series of bonds, the B bonds. There is an obligation of Columbia County to secure that $57,405,000 issuance of the B certificates.”
Approving the supplemental resolution gives the necessary authorization to approve issuing the certificates and authorizes officers to sign the necessary closing papers. Pannell said the closing is scheduled for Nov. 2.
Board members unanimously approved the supplemental resolution.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
