The Antelope Valley Times

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Lancaster closes $50 million in Measure M and Measure R sales tax revenue bonds for road improvements

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LANCASTER – The city of Lancaster recently closed $50 million in a Measure M and Measure R sales tax revenue bond issue that raised funds for the extensive road improvement and replacement program that is part of the city’s “STIR” (Strategic Technology, Innovation, and Resiliency) initiative, which focuses on improving and enhancing city infrastructure. Issued with a rating of AA- from S&P Global Rating, the bonds were sold at very favorable interest rates to institutional as well as retail investors across California and the United States.

“These bond funds will help the city of Lancaster invest in new road improvements and rehabilitate transportation links throughout critically important parts of the community. This funding will also propel and accelerate Lancaster’s Revive 25 program for the benefit of all residents and stakeholders,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a news release. “Lancaster residents voted for these measures to expedite and expand the delivery of essential infrastructure developments. Through low-cost financing and the leveraging of the Measure M and R funds, we are in a better position to achieve these goals, and will use the bond proceeds to facilitate the expedited design and construction of local streets.”

As a result of the AA- bonds rating, bond insurance was not required, thus saving the city approximately $240,000. An additional $410,000 was saved due to the bonds being sold at very favorable interest rates. The $650,000 in total savings will go towards more street projects throughout Lancaster.

“We are very pleased with the results of this financing. The City Council directed staff to maximize the amount of the new proceeds within a set of conservative financial parameters, and we achieved that goal through an effective collaborative effort,” Lancaster City Manager Jason Caudle said in a news release. “Prudent financial management, including targeted borrowing such as this bond financing, helps the city continue to deliver vital services to our residents, thereby ensuring the city flourishes into the future.”

[Information via news release from the city of Lancaster.]

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Filed Under: Home, Lancaster

48 comments for "Lancaster closes $50 million in Measure M and Measure R sales tax revenue bonds for road improvements"

  1. Serena is right that Lancaster is more fiscally solvent than Palmdale right now. There was an article in the Antelope Valley Press three days ago about Palmdale not having enough funds for the future. Instead of burying our heads in the sand and pretending like it’s not happening, we should be looking for solutions.

    The JimLedford/William/TimScott crowd represent a small and shrinking minority of Palmdale voters. You guys and your weird provincialism remind me of people in Texas or Oklahoma who fight over who lives in the nicest trailer park. It’s just bizarre!

    We are part of Los Angeles County, which makes us part of Los Angeles. So is Lancaster! If we want to keep our part of Los Angeles viable into the future, when need to get creative and quit tilting at windmills and bickering like old women at a card game.

    We have a whole new population of people moving into the Antelope Valley from LA proper, Ventura County, the SFV and, from around the country even, and they are ready for regionalism and don’t see the need for backbiting and petty politics.

    If you want to keep the bickering going, then move out to Victorville, Apple Valley, Hesperia and Adelanto and you can pick one of those cities and bicker with the others.

    • Serena an J. Duran are uneducated tools of the Lancaster Political Machine. The decades of plundering the Antelope Valley to enrich the good old boy network have left Lancaster with huge redevelopment debt and unfunded pension obligations.

      The California state auditor recently ranked Lancaster far below Palmdale as a fiscal risk.

      The article in the Antelope Valley Press refers to a future projection of finances. Care to guess what Lancaster’s future projections are? It’s been a while since they’ve done that because the number were so dismal. This is why the Lancaster Political Machine is pushing for sales tax revenue sharing. They need Palmdale’s money to cover their coming shortfall.

      They are peddling their Lancaster Choice Energy scam to unknowing cities and making some revenue that way. But failures such as Ecolution, Traction Seal, LEAPS, and lawsuits have taken their toll. Plus, there is now real shopping in Lancaster outside of Costco.

      Palmdale will be fine as long as it can keep the Lancaster Political Machine out of its business.

      • Of course the Lancaster Political Machine is for tax revenue sharing. Their ship is sinking and you can only play the shell game for so long.

        Nice try.

        • Please tell Rex and Marv that instead of giving $25,000 to Eye on Palmdale to support Lancaster based candidates, maybe the money could be better spent getting the panhandlers off the BLVD.

      • @Eye on Lancaster.

        I think you meant to write “Plus, there is NO real shopping in Lancaster outside of COSTCO.”

        Hofbauer and Rex’s minion council are running through the reserve fund.

    • J. Duran: I knew the insults would soon come after your comment. I, and I’m sure the commenters that agree with you will be called hacks, part of the Lancaster political machine, shills, uneducated tools, etc. I really would like to see both cities come together with a solution for revenue sharing, and put to the voters. Jim Ledford is no longer mayor, and we will move on with a positive outlook. It’s nice to see an intelligent comment, J. Duran.

      • Look, F. Art
        J. Duran wrote this to start with.

        “The JimLedford/William/TimScott crowd represent a small and shrinking minority of Palmdale voters. You guys and your weird provincialism remind me of people in Texas or Oklahoma who fight over who lives in the nicest trailer park. It’s just bizarre!”

        So, tell us against where the insults started. The rest of your post is a no pass along with J. Duran’s.

    • Most people in Lancaster and Palmdale want to come together; we would benefit greatly if we came together. So many of us are tired of the few that want to continue with the constant hateful rhetoric to separate us. Enough of the petty bickering, it’s been going on too long, but I also know the majority wants to work on a peaceful solution.

      • I support Lancaster and Palmdale working together. I do not support Lancaster directing Palmdale to do its bidding. Nor do I support Palmdale directing Lancaster to do its bidding either, although that does not happen.

        A great start would be to have voting districts in Lancaster like they have in Palmdale. It might help clean up the current council and get us leadership who will work with Palmdale instead of directing them. Better yet, we might finally get some representation in East Lancaster and make improvements.

    • Thousands of us travel daily, back and forth from both Lancaster and Palmdale. Whether for work, visiting families and friends, etc. Most of us don’t get involved with the daily insults and name-calling.

    • J. Duran: Your second paragraph is really funny, and. oh so true. “Bickering like old women at a card game,” well, men bicker much more than women. Anyway, I always beat out the men when it came to all night poker, and, boy, did they complain! The party of the Bickersons goes on here.

    • That’s great William. Keep your mayor and your city council out of Palmdale, Littlerock, Quartz Hill, Leona Valley, Rosamond, Antelope Acres and Lake LA. Tell them to mind their own business and focus on their own problems such as high crime, homelessness, bad roads, mounting debt, bad image, storefront vacancies, neopotism, and the legendary good old boys network.

  4. Better than I can say for Palmdale. We are on the road to becoming insolvent very soon. Our city fathers thought the AV Mall was the answer to our revenue needs (and yes the mall does help!) , but it’s nowhere near enough. We cannot just rely solely on retail anymore with the online options. We are also taxed enough as it is. What is the solution? I would say we look into regional revenue sharing with Lancaster at this point.

    • Regional revenue sharing would only benefit Lancaster and help them solve there immense redevelopment debt and their unfunded pensions. There is a reason why the California State Auditor listed Lancaster as a much higher fiscal risk than Palmdale. http://www.california-auditor.connect.socrata.com

      Palmdale has all the large defense contractors, a new hospital, local businesses, and regional shopping. Lancaster is passe. It now relies on selling cannabis and destroying the west valley with solar fields.

      The people of Palmdale are not stupid enough to vote on something like a regional revenue tax sharing agreement. A couple of the Lancaster owned council members might be for it however. Keep an eye on them.

      • There are solar farms in Palmdale. I agree with you, William, the voters aren’t stupid in Palmdale, that’s why you have Mayor Hofbauer.

      • With thousands of people affected by the devastating fires, people that have lost their lives and everything they own due to downed power lines, Solar power helps immensely.

      • Lancaster Ca. ‘AA-‘ rating, stable. Also the people you say aren’t stupid enough to vote for revenue sharing, voted for Steve Hofbauer.

      • Palmdale really is a strange place. On one side of town, it’s clean and looks like Anywhere Suburbia, USA: clean, nice streets, safe, good stores and restaurants.

        On the other side, it is gutters clogged with trash, cars parked in the same spot for 5 years (you know this by the registration tags on the license plates) and weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement around said-cars, debris of all sorts in the streets, kids playing basketball in the middle of the street and blocking traffic. That side of town really could use some help!

        It’s the strangest place I’ve ever lived in terms of the vast dichotomies on display here. A 4 mile drive east and it doesn’t even feel like you’re in the same city at all.

    • Why would we want to revenue share with Lancaster? Look at Lancaster. If they were doing so well, it wouldn’t look the way it does.

      It would be like having a derelict roommate which is sorta like what Lancaster is for Palmdale already. Now you want to share incomes too.

      Anyway, Hofbauer said that won’t happen when asked about it at the Democratic Club meeting a while back.

      • Dude, who are you kidding?????

        Lancaster looks a lot better than Palmdale. The streets are a lot cleaner , for one thing, as the city utilizes street sweeping services once a month. When I lived in Palmdale, it was never sweeped. The gutters are always clogged with trash and junk cars parked up against the sidewalks. When I contacted city hall about this, I was told that there wasn’t even an ordinance in the city code to address it.

        Palmdale still thinks it sh*** don’t stink because it’s got the mall and all of the stores around it, but other than that, it is not what I would call a very well run city.

        Lancaster looks really good west of the freeway, and then it stays nice after you go under the freeway until you get close to Sierra Highway.

        I cannot say the same for Palmdale at all. The only part that looks decent is west of the freeway, and the rest of the city looks like a garbage dump. It was embarrassing to have people come visit from out of town and have to drive through what is essentially a slum before they got to my house on 35th East and R.

        This is the main reason why I no longer live in Palmdale and chose a small condo on the west side of Lancaster instead. It’s literally like Night vs. Day difference.

        • Dude, whatever you are smoking please share. Put down the pipe and drive down Division and K. You may want to take some motion sickness pills first because the roads are bumpy.

          East Lancaster is a wasteland thanks to it being totally ignored by our rich westside leadership. Voting districts will correct this but it will never happen with Rex in control.

        • Hey, Mike Santiago.

          Where do you shop in Lancaster, Walmart, thrift stores………………..oops there’s nothing else?

          Oh, wait. There are a bunch of half-empty old shopping centers whose anchor stores have gone. It’s funny to drive around Lancaster. There’s lots of traffic but get this…THERE’S NO DESTINATIONS. They are all driving through town to get somewhere else. What a place.

          Please spare us you silly comments.

    • I have to think that you are some sort of Marv employed hack. ANYONE who has looked into the revenue sharing proposals that Lancaster has floated knows they are just a straight out looting of Palmdale. Looks like Marv is trying to worm that poison into the public consciousness so that when Sellout Steve hands Wrecks and company the keys to the treasury they can claim some citizen suggested it.

      This is the kind of incredibly dangerous BS that needs to be watched for.

    • Serena: They did in 1997, but it fell through. There are different ways to come to an agreement on revenue sharing so both cities could benefit. I say put it to the voters. This self-centered, juvenile, battle of the wills has been going on for a long time. Don’t pay any attention to the regulars on here that resort to insults because you have a different opinion.

      • As a Palmdale resident, I do not want my tax dollars going for foolish programs like the Eye in the Sky, TractionSeal, and surveillance cameras on streetlights that peer into my house. Nor do I want to see no bid contracts rewarding Ehrlich, Visco, or any of the other cronies.

        Keep Lancaster, Lancaster and keep Palmdale, Palmdale. People can choose which community and which leaders they wish to live with.

        By choice I live in Palmdale. I paid more for my house but it was worth it.

    • You mean a 3rd world class city. A few millionaires and the rest homeless.

      Welcome to our club, Mr. Parris.

    • C’mon man…we all know the money will be spent to beautify the streets adjacent to whatever new development Wrecks and his cronies are invested in currently. Just like the developer fees collected from other developers are. Pay a massive development fee, your project is surrounded by barren blacktop and block wall canyons. Pay a hefty campaign donation to the AV Republican PAC and you not only get the development fee waived the city will make driving to your development seem like a cruise through a park.

      • The AV Republican Pac is what keeps Marvin and Drunken Drew in the money to play Big Shots in local politics. Republicans think that by donating they are supporting the party when it is really used to pay for Marvin’s pet projects and keeping elected officials in line to do their bidding. Just ask Palmdale Councilman Auston Bishop.

        • Austun Bishop is Marv’s boy. He does what his daddy tells him to do. Even if it means harm to the future of Palmdale and the AV as a whole. As long as it benefits Rex, Marv, and the Lancaster elite, Austun is on board.

          • Auston got a girlfriend during his last election and she happens to be Marv’s very good friend for a very long time. She is the one who makes sure Auston stays on track. She is old enough to be his mother but Auston needs direction. Funny to see them together in this arranged relationship but she is a team player.

    • Yes, there is a nice bike lane on Sierra Highway. Has been there for years. I have also noticed road improvements on 20th street w. and elsewhere; very nice.

      • The Sierra Highway bike lane is a good example of our 2 cities working together, nice improvement for both cities. Of course that was a more cooperative era with Roberts and Ledford working together like Mayors are supposed to do. A bygone era by the way.

        • Roberts and Ledford working together? Not so fast, Quid pro quo, You’re leaving out a lot between those two. Roberts was very willing on very important issues to come together, but Ledford once again was not.

        • Ledford and Hearns did a bunch of stuff together, too. It all ended when Rex was elected mayor. Not only did relationships sour, but Lancaster went downhill fast. Crime, homelessness, financial issues. Bring back Hearns, Roberts, Little, anyone but Rex.