FARMINGTON — Davis County has the space to expand the Davis Conference Center, and soon will have the money for it.

The Davis County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday afternoon to issue $9.96 million in sales-tax revenue bonds to help pay for an addition to the center, located in Layton.

"Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. Phase two is coming," Commissioner Dannie McConkie said.

Commissioners want to expand the conference center to include exhibition spaces to attract larger conventions and more tourism to Davis County. A feasibility study completed earlier this year found that an expansion would be in the county's economic interest.

The bonds will be sold to New York-based UBS Securities, which placed the lowest of seven bids the county received Tuesday morning. When the bonds close Sept. 26, the county will pocket nearly $10 million, which it plans to pay back at 4.35 percent over 21 years. The county will pay nearly $626,000 a year in principal and interest payments.

Commissioners were pleased to learn that the county received the highest bond rating possible by Standard and Poor's, a AAA rating.

"This is amazing," said Jon Bronson, with Zions Bank Public Finance, who has been advising the county on the bonds for the center. "It is incredibly good. It doesn't get any better than this."

The high rating means the county doesn't need to guarantee its good standing and will save $87,000 in insurance. When the county issued bonds in 2003 for the existing conference center, it had to pay insurance costs.

County officials plan to pay for the bonds, which use sales-tax revenues as collateral, through a recent increase in the county's hotel-room tax, which will bring in an extra $225,000 starting in October.

The rest of the financing for the $12 million expansion will be made up through a $500,000 grant from the Utah Legislature and $225,000 in fee waivers and infrastructure improvements that Layton will provide.

Steve Rawlings, Davis County clerk/auditor, said the county is awaiting design plans for the expansion from the architectural firm that designed the original conference center and could break ground as soon as winter, depending on weather.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com