Financial Limits Even in Arlington County
After spending $105 million to replace Washington-Lee High School and $25 million to reconstruct Yorktown High School, and scheduled to spend another $75 million for a second phase at Yorktown, Arlington officials are learning there are limits to how much can be spend without risking their coveted Triple-A bond rating.
According to yesterday’s DC Examiner newspaper, “funds are in jeopardy of drying up before the county’s third and lowest-income-area high school gets a makeover.” The newspaper notes that:
“County Manager Ron Carlee has indicated the county will cap the amount of money schools can finance through bonds, saying Arlington’s debt will reach a perilously high level unless the county and the schools curb their construction rates.”
The paper went on to note:
“But according to a January memo from Carlee, the schools likely will be limited to between $34 million and $56 million in bond financing this cycle to keep the county’s debt at a tenable level.”
Read the Manager’s entire memo as well as a memo from the county’s financial advisors at the Department of Management & Finance’s homepage (listed under heading “county’s debt capacity”).