Treasurer Sprague, City of Youngstown Announce 2022 OMAP Deal Savings

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Market Access Program (OMAP) administered by Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague has helped the City of Youngstown enter the market to refinance outstanding debt and save an estimated $41,929 in interest costs over the next year. 

“OMAP puts the strength of our state’s balance sheet to work for Ohio’s communities, lowering their interest costs when financing important infrastructure or economic development projects,” said Treasurer Sprague. “With interest rates on the rise, programs like OMAP are as important as ever, as local governments look for additional cost-saving opportunities. We’re proud to partner with the City of Youngstown as they continue to navigate the municipal debt market.” 

The City of Youngstown utilized OMAP to issue a tax-exempt note and a taxable note to retire outstanding notes. The original notes were issued to finance renovations of the city hall annex building and a portion of the construction costs of the city’s convocation center. These issuances mark the seventh and eighth OMAP deals for the city. The previous six deals have saved the city an estimated $341,382 in interest expenses. 

“Like many municipalities across Ohio, the pandemic taught everyone many lessons on how to prepare for unexpected disasters,” said Kyle Miasek, Director of Finance for the City of Youngstown. “We’ve worked to implement every possible strategy to maximize our resources, and OMAP helped provide the city with significant savings on our borrowing costs.  Additionally, we’re grateful for the foundation we have to access the capital markets on our future projects.” 

OMAP is a credit enhancement program that leverages the state’s excess liquidity and high short-term credit rating to help improve market access and lower borrowing rates for local governments. Since its 2014 launch, OMAP has supported more than 240 deals, ranging from $365,000 to over $100 million. There have been no defaults, and to date, OMAP has generated more than $4.6 million in estimated savings for local governments. 

Any government subdivision in good fiscal standing, including cities, villages, school districts, counties, townships, and special districts, issuing short-term debt is eligible to participate. For more information, visit https://omap.ohio.gov/.  

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Robert Sprague became Ohio’s 49th Treasurer of State on January 14, 2019, bringing to the office his extensive experience working on financial matters in both the public and private sectors. Under Treasurer Sprague’s direction, the office manages the state’s $39 billion investment and $11 billion debt portfolios, collects and deposits all state revenues, and oversees custodial assets.