Board Allows All Aboard Florida To Issue Bonds
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ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) — A Florida board unanimously allowed a private company to issue bonds financing the construction of a passenger rail from Miami to Orlando.
The company is allowed to issue $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds.
The Florida Development Finance Board on Wednesday granted All Aboard Florida permission to issue the bonds after listening to testimony and deliberating for almost eight hours during a meeting in Orlando.
The approval was an important hurdle All Aboard Florida needed to clear in order build the $2.25 billion project.
The company's president said the project would create $6.4 billion in economic activity over eight years and that taxpayers wouldn't face any exposure should it fail.
Opponents said taxpayers would be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain and improve rail crossings.
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