As the second largest water system in Arkansas serving over 330,000 people and industries in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and the surrounding areas, the District is the catalyst for the growth in northwest Arkansas. The District sought to reduce its annual debt payments to improve cash flow and help maintain its low wholesale water rate, but due to previous onerous bond covenants, the District was required to maintain a large cash debt service reserve fund equal to 100% of the maximum annual debt payment. At the time, the debt service reserve fund was equal to approximately $6.7 million.
Working with District staff, Crews restructured the existing bonds to reduce the annual debt payments by approximately $2.6 million and eliminating all together the District’s debt service reserve fund requirement. This in turn generated interest cost savings in excess of $1.1 million over the life of the bond issue. Crews was also instrumental in raising the District’s credit rating to AA+, one-step below the highest rating available and the highest in Arkansas at that time.
Crews worked hard to serve our client in extraordinary ways by: