Jackson Jambalaya

WLBT broadcast a story on the bond refinancing Thursday night that has been heavily covered here. I got a couple of text messages and emails saying I was ripped off. I let my anger get the best of me and the next day wrote a post about the story that was very sarcastic, took the jackassery too far, and made some less than flattering remarks and insinuations about her abilities as a reporter. Sometimes we let our anger get the best of us and I'm no exception. She was given her assignment by the news editor and worked the story from scratch and she should be commended for doing so as this is not exactly easy to understand nor is it exciting. I took the post down for the simple reason it didn't include any new information and its not fair to Ms. Lasseter for someone using google one day to come across her name and the dreaded P word or something similar. I will post her actual story below and say its nice to see WLBT. It is important to cover this story as it might be boring stuff but its better than covering a story in a few years over how Jackson will have to triple its water/sewer fees because these little swaps blew up in our faces. The story will be much more exciting to report then but I don't think we want to go there. I don't mind making corrections here on JJ and when I'm wrong, I'll say I'm wrong and this is no exception. To Mrs. Lasseter, I humbly apologize.


"JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - On April 7, the Jackson City Council voted to enter into an interest rate swap package on a multi-million dollar bond. Jeff Weill and Margaret Barrett-Simon voted against it. Kenneth Stokes was not present. But it passed with the remaining four voting in favor.
The City's Financial Director, Rick Hill, says it's not the first time the city has chosen a variable and fixed rate mix to pay bond interest. This one is projected to save a million dollars a year until the public works bond matures in 2034, and the savings will go into a reserve.
Hill says FSA Insurance guarantees the bond, so FSA must approve all bond-related transactions. Right now, FSA AND Deutsche Bank are negotiating on the terms of the interest rate swap; in fact the swap may never materialize.
But one deal is sealed: certain financial interests will get paid a contingency just because the City Council voted in favor of the swap. City Attorney Sarah O'Reilly-Evans, Sterne Agee, Rice Financial Group, and others will get paid tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars whether or not a deal is ever inked.
Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill says the terms of the fees payable aren't clear, and the Council should never have passed something it doesn't understand. "This is the first I've heard, when you told me this could fall through. If it fell through, I think that would be wonderful news," he says. "This isn't a simple adjustable rate. This is a derivative transaction which is far above the understanding of anyone in city government."
3 On Your Side found out hundreds of other U.S. cities and towns have gambled and lost on municipal bond derivatives, including areas of nearby Tennessee.
Even so, Hill assures us that the way Jackson's package is designed, the city will pay only a fixed rate on the bond when it's all said and done.
Hill says we should know by next week if the deal will materialize. "