Case Study: City of Lake Worth Beach, FL
Based on prior experience with Davenport’s holistic approach, creativity, and problem solving skills, the City of Lake Worth Beach engaged the firm in 2019 to assist with a financial workout of its Electric Utility. The City’s electric system suffered from decades of deferred maintenance, resulting in a lack of reliability and financial deterioration. Davenport developed a plan of finance to restructure the City’s existing unrated revenue bonds under a new master resolution using a combined revenue pledge that included water, local sewer, and electric revenues. In doing so Davenport partnered with Stantec – a nationally recognized consulting engineer – to develop a comprehensive Plan of Finance and multi-year financial plan for the combined utility credit. The new credit structure earned an A-category rating for its inaugural issuance, allowing the City to restructure its debt and infuse the electric system with $45 million of new money to jumpstart the modernization of the distribution grid. Davenport also successfully helped develop a second new credit structure – primarily for general government projects – to help diversify its capital funding resources. Davenport is also assisting the City in updating its out of date financial policy guidelines.