The bonds must be applied for and committed to projects by the end of the year
The State Bond Commission has whittled the capacity left in the Gulf Opportunity Zone bond program to about $12 million, according to commission Executive Director Whit Kling. Kling told the commission at its Thursday meeting that there was about $7 million left in the program, but he was informed Friday that $5 million had been returned.
View full sizeMatthew Champagne, 7, tries out a oversize sugar spoon after a groundbreaking for a sugar cane refinery in Reserve in April 2008. The Louisiana Sugar Refining project benefited from $100 million in GO Zone bonds. The state received $7.9 billion in GO Zone bond allocation from Congress in the weeks after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The program is designed to make low-cost borrowing available as a way to encourage developers and businesses to rebuild the economy in hurricane areas.
"I want to use all of this" capacity, state Treasurer John Kennedy, chairman of the bond panel, told the commission. "It looks like we will have (about) $13 million, and time is running short."
He urged underwriters and bond lawyers to talk to their clients about using the remaining dollars in the program. The bonds must be applied for and committed to projects by the end of the year. Kennedy said he does not want to see any of the allocation go unused.