City of Nashua
Office of The Treasurer
229 Main Street - Nashua, NH 03060 (603) 589-3193
Fax (603)589-3228
TO: Chairman Richard Dowd and Members of the Budget Review Committee
FROM: David G. Fredette, Treasurer/Tax Collector Det.
DATE: December 19, 2019
RE: Bond Sale Plan and Debt Service Analysis for General Fund
In response to your questions during the Budget Review Committee Meeting on Monday, December 16, 2019,
please find attached two exhibits - Projected Bond Sale Plan and General Fund Debt Service Analysis.
Projected Bond Sale Plan
The Bond Sale Plan (page 1) shows the City’s five year plan for bond sales from FY2021 to FY2025. This
analysis is fluid in that it is updated at least twice per year based on the City’s evolving capital plans. The
exhibit lists the various planned bondable projects with the top section showing the amounts “Authorized” by
the Board of Aldermen and the bottom section “Not Authorized.”
The City engages Hilltop Securities as its financial advisor for bond sales planning and execution. Given the
City of Nashua’s two AAA bond ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, our bond sales are very
competitive and attractive to investors (which resulted in a total interest cost of 2.013 percent for the most
recent $23,590,000 bond sale in October 2019).
General Fund Debt Seryice Analysis
The General Fund Debt Service Analysis exhibit (page 2) has been designed to show by fiscal year, the debt
service required on sold bonded debt (column B), the reduction in current debt service as the current bonds get
paid off (column C), the target debt service amounts for budgetary purposes (column D), the projected general
fund debt service budget (column E) and the projected debt service increase over the next several years (column
F). Once the Bond Sale Plan is updated, the Treasurer’s office works closely with Hilltop Securities on
modeling the bond sale and resulting debt service requirements over the life of the bonds. As you will see, the
annual debt service targets have been increased by $300,000 per year which equates to annual percentages
increases of less than 2.0% (1.8% increase in FY2021). Given the debt service requirements, Hilltop Securities
is charged with packaging the bonds for sale. A combination of level principal, level debt, deferred principal
payment, bond premium, staggered sales strategies and the use of Bond Anticipation Notes (BAN) are used to
reach the annual debt service targets.
