City leaders have approved tax breaks and other economic incentives for a project that will bring a pretzel production facility and close to 300 jobs to Lawrence. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously to approve an approximately $4.4 million economic incentives package for VanTrust Real Estate for an approximately 150,000-square-foot production facility for Indiana-based Pretzels Inc., which is expanding its operations to Lawrence.
Source: LJWorld.com.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director for Kansas Lynne Hinrichsen today announced that USDA is investing $31,900 toward a new backhoe for the city of Glasco…. The city of Glasco will use the $31,900 grant to assist with purchasing a John Deere backhoe for the Glasco Public Works Department. This project will allow the city to have reliable equipment to continue providing maintenance services for its nearly 500 residents, including fixing the streets, water line leaks, moving rocks and snow, among other projects. This community partnership is made possible by the additional contribution by the applicant of $26,100.

The decimated municipal-bond insurance industry is having a renaissance. Weakened by Covid-19, state and local borrowers are using insurance at their highest rates in more than a decade. This type of upfront protection offers a promise from insurance companies to pay investors if the municipality defaults. Overall, the share of newly issued muni debt carrying insurance reached 7.13% in the second quarter and was 6.8% in the third quarter, up from an average of 4.72% in the decade before the pandemic, according to Municipal Market Analytics data. Fueling the trend is a drop in local government creditworthiness that has left public officials looking for ways to keep down borrowing costs.
Source: WSJ.

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.