The Carroll County Board of Supervisors were presented with a potential money saving option on the roughly $4 million cost of the countywide communication’s project. The original opinion of the consulting public finance banker with D.A. Davidson, Nathan Summers, was that the county could save money by entering into a lease agreement with Motorola for the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communication System (ISICS) project. Since then, the impact COVID-19 has had on the economy has presented a potentially more beneficial option.
Part of the process in determining the best course of action has Summers working with Motorola to identify any negative ramifications of paying off the lease early. He says if he finds they can exit the lease without any impacts on the project or the maintenance of the equipment, it could be a sizeable savings.
Supervisor, Neil Bock, asked Summers about reinvestments of bond monies and how sure he is of those investments. Summers explains how the shift from a lease to the bond market would be handled and assures the supervisors that their approval to move ahead with the due diligence on this option does not lock them into it.
The supervisors all agree it is in their best interest to delve further into the possibility of switching to the bond market for the ISICS project. Summers says he will have a proposal put together in about one week and will forward it to the supervisors through Carroll County Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck.
