State ready to sell bonds for community and school projects

State officials are preparing to sell bonds to fund two major projects. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says Iowa will begin selling at least 190-million dollars worth of bonds October 9th and 10th to fund “Vision Iowa” projects. The Vision Iowa board has already awarded 175-million dollars for entertainment and recreation projects in Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Sioux City, Des Moines and Davenport. Fitzgerald says the second bond offering on October 25th will raise 50-million dollars for a first-of-its-kind grant project for school infrastructure. The bonds are given out to school districts in one million dollar grants, and they must be matched by the district.Fitzgerald says the bonds are attractive to investors because the interest is free of both state and federal taxes. The bonds will be backed first with casino gambling funds, second with lottery funds, and finally by the State of Iowa.Vision Iowa Board Chairman Michael Gartner says the bond sale will complete the cycle in getting the projects underway. He says they’ve already had a four-way partnership between, the city, county, private sector and the State of Iowa. Now he says the people of Iowa make it a five-way project.Fitzgerald says the Vision Iowa bond sale will be a minimum of 190-million dollars, but could be more depending on the interest rates. Iowans will be able to purchase the bonds beginning with a minimum price of five thousand dollars.