Annapolis Capital Punishment

Just in from Ray Weaver, Public Information Officer for Annapolis:

The City of Annapolis Director of Finance Tim Elliot is pleased to announce that the City received an outstanding 4.27% rate on its recent$28.9 million bond issue. The winning bidder was BB&T Capital Markets.They were one of ten bidders with rates ranging from 4.27% to 4.39%. The rates were below the AAA bond buyer index for today and very good when current market conditions are considered.

This sounds like great news, and CP is sure every homeowner can appreciate what a good rate such as this means, but not being an economist, it is very hard to say how this translates into solid benefits for taxpayers. CP inquired of Mr. Weaver in his role as PIO, but was told to contact the Finance Director for such details. Perhaps staff reporters at newspapers, or maybe even ERIC SMITH, can take the time to delve into this, but CP thinks it is incumbent upon our own government to expain this is real terms to real people. What standard ratios are used in small cities to determine solvency and debt ratios? Will this mean our budget growth is slowed? How many dollars per year does it save over having a higher rate? etc...etc...