Delayed bond payment did not appear to affect Lawrence’s bond rating

Commissioner Stuart Boley said recently that in October of 2014, the city missed making a bond payment that was due on city debt. The missed payment is the type of event that could cause the city to suffer a reduction in its bond rating, which would cause the city to pay higher interest rates on its millions of dollars in debt…

Finance Director Jeremy Willmoth, who was not with the city at the time of the incident, said he did find records that confirmed the missed bond payment. According to records, the city had a $46,951.11 interest payment due on Oct. 1, 2014, for a set of general obligation temporary notes — a type of short-term bond — that had been issued earlier that year.

However, the city did not make that payment on Oct. 1. The city did not make the payment until Dec. 15, 2014, after the city received a delinquency notice. …

Willmoth said he did not find any records indicating that the city had to pay a penalty for the late payment. He also didn’t find any records indicating that the city’s bond rating suffered as a result of the late payment. The 2014 temporary notes received the highest rating that Moody’s bond rating service provides for those kinds of bonds. A 2015 issuance of temporary notes by the city received the same rating. Boley, however, said the incident didn’t go completely unnoticed by the bond rating agencies. He said for the past five years, the city has had to disclose the missed payment among the reams of paperwork that are provided to potential bond buyers.