City of Pittsburg: Pittsburg Bond Refinance Puts $100 in 2,000 Homeowners Wallets

Pittsburg Bond Refinance Puts $100 in 2,000 Homeowners Wallets

Posted Date: 8/25/2011

City of Pittsburg
65 Civic Avenue
Pittsburg, CA 94565-3814


Press Contact: Joe Sbranti, City Manager
(925) 252-4850

PRESS RELEASE

Pittsburg Bond Refinance Puts $100 in 2,000 Homeowners Wallets

PITTSBURG - The state of the economy has put the squeeze on family budgets, but 1,996 homeowners just got some relief, thanks to a bond refinancing deal completed this week by the City of Pittsburg.

Between 1998 and 2001, the City sold $32 million in bonds to raise money to construct infrastructure, including water lines and streets, for new developments in Oak Hills, San Marco, Marina Walk, Village at New York Landing and Brickyard subdivisions. Property owners in the new neighborhoods pay an average of $810 every year with their property taxes to repay the bonds over 30 years.

As the economy slowed, interest rates dipped, and the City took the opportunity to refinance the bonds at a lower interest rate. The change reduces every property owner's annual payment by 11 percent, or an average of $100, for the next 20 years. The bond term stayed the same, and will end in 2031.

City Manager Joe Sbranti said the move authorized by the City Council in July did not cost the City or taxpayers in other areas of the City anything, but it will help families in the affected neighborhoods have a little more in their budget.

"These are rough economic times for a lot of people in Pittsburg, and this refinancing was the right thing to do," he said. Property owners will notice the annual savings beginning with their December 2012 property assessments.

The lowest annual levy in the four districts affected by the refinancing was $292.44, the highest was $29,839.60, with an average annual levy in all four districts of $891.

Savings vary by neighborhood. In the Oak Hills subdivision, homeowners will save an average of $59.42 per year; and in Oak Hills South, the annual payment will be reduced by an average of $105.49. Assessments for water improvements paid by Oak Hills property owners will be reduced by $35.85 on average. In Marina Walk, the payment will be cut an average of $129.34. Property owners in the Village at New York Landing will be assessed an average of $130.06 less than last year, and in San Marco, homeowners' assessments will fall an average $130.64.

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Marc Fox
Assistant City Manager - Internal Services
City of Pittsburg
Office: (925) 252-4876
Facsimile: (925) 252-4138
Email: mfox@ci.pittsburg.ca.us

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