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September 4, 2013

State sells liquor bond to pay hospitals

The state will settle up $183.5 million in Medicaid debt to hospitals within weeks after the Maine Municipal Bond Bank on Tuesday sold its $220 million liquor revenue bond.

In a press release from Gov. Paul LePage’s office, the state said the hospital payment is expected, in full, in September. The bond carries an interest rate of 3.79%, a rate that Mike Goodwin, executive director of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, said was driven down by high investor demand.

The bond, taken out against projected revenues from renegotiating the state’s wholesale liquor distribution contract, received high marks from debt-ratings agencies Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service in August.

The new liquor wholesale contract is scheduled to go out for bid in September and to begin July 1, 2014, following the expiration of the current contract with Maine Beverage Co.

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