The Carroll Board of County Commissioners last week awarded two bids to issue $66.5 million in bonds.

The commissioners, on Nov. 12, awarded New York-based Merrill Lynch $31.88 million in tax-exempt bonds for a 10-year turn at an interest rate of about 2.25 percent.

The bid includes refinancing $8 million from 1998 bonds, which officials said would save $500,000 over two years. Fourteen banks placed bids for those bonds.

The commissioners also awarded Robert W. Baird & Co. of Red Bank, N.J., $34.65 million in Build America bonds for a term of 11 to 20 years.

Build America bonds is a program offered through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, where the county will receive a rebate off the interest rate paid, which lowers the bond's rate to an effective interest rate less than 3.4 percent, according to Vivian Laxton, public information administrator for Carroll County.

Five banks placed bids for those bonds, and had a choice between tax exempt and Build America, she said.

The bond sale will help pay for projects that are near or already completed, such as Manchester Valley High School, the new South Carroll Senior and Community Center and the new Carroll Community College classroom building, according to county Comptroller Rob Burk.

Essentially, the county sells its debt to financial institutions, which will then sell that to investors, he said.

Officials said the low interest rates the county received were based in part on the county's strong credit ratings.

Standard & Poor's announced last week an AA+ rating, and Moody's Investors Services continued to rate the county as an Aa2. Last week, Fitch Ratings rated Carroll County AA+.

Bonds are rated on a scale from C up to AAA. The closer the rating to AAA, typically the lower the interest rate on bonds and the lower the risk to those who buy bonds, Burk said.

Burk said Carroll does not earn an AAA rating because investors see the county's economy as not mature, compared to surrounding counties, due to its small industrial base.

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