Archive of the Western Area Water Supply

The following is a timeline drawn from previous email blasts regarding the Western Area Water Supply between 2014 and 2016. Some links may no longer work due to age.

Hidden Provision In HB 1020 Allows WAWS To Sell Bonds To The Public To Pay Back Debt To Bank of North Dakota

April 6th, 2016

Buried in the new Senate version of HB 1020 is a provision that the state of North Dakota is granting the Western Area Water Service (WAWS) the ability to sell revenue bonds to the public to pay back its loan obligations to the bank of North Dakota.

In addition to authority declared under section 61-40-01, the board of directors of the western area water supply authority may:

21. Issue revenue bonds to repay its loan obligations to the Bank of North Dakota and the state water commission.

Who in their right mind would buy bonds from a government entity, knowing that the state of North Dakota wants to get this debt off its own books?

These bonds would bring new literal meaning to the term "under-water" debt.

To make things even more ironic, in Section 8 of the bill, the legislature is allowing the Bank of North Dakota to consolidate the debt of WAWS in order to reduce th…