State officials have completed the sale of $601 million in bonds for Gov. Chet Culver’s I-JOBS infrastructure program, with the end result saving Iowa nearly $12 million a year.

Gov. Chet Culver

Gov. Chet Culver

The money will be paid back over the next 20 years with gambling revenue. The legislature originally planned to allocate $55 million a year to pay for the bonds, but the state received a lower interest rate than expected, so the annual debt service on will be approximately $43.2 million.

Culver credited a low debt burden and a AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor’s for the savings for the favorable interest rate.

“Iowa’s strong fiscal management means we can take steps to create jobs and improve our economy that few other places across the nation can do,” he said in a statement. “And thanks to our strong fiscal management, it means we can take bold action to move our state forward while saving Iowa taxpayers millions of dollars in the process.”

Proceeds from the bond sale will be transferred to the State on July 22. The first deadline to apply for funds is Aug. 3.

Responding to the news of the bond sale, Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, said Culver was simply engaging in political spin.

“Only a debt and spend governor like Chet Culver would believe that Iowa taxpayers will ‘save millions’ after first putting over a billion dollars of debt on the state’s credit card,” he said.