Mr. Mayhew says he believes the underwriting fees were justified because they also included management fees and structuring the deal, which involved calculating toll collections and income streams. A piece of the bridge broke the day before the issuance, making it an even tougher sell.
"These bankers had a lot of work to do," Mr. Mayhew says.
He says it is difficult to measure the direct jobs stimulus. The bridge project began in 2000 and employs hundreds. "This may look like more Wall Street greed," he says, "but for my transaction, we felt pretty good."
For Wall Street, Build America Bonds are a fast-growing and significant business. Since the program began in April 2009, $78 billion worth of these bonds have been sold, according to Thomson Reuters.
By the end of this year, bankers estimate that as much as $150 billion more of the bonds will be sold--more than one-third of the municipal bond market. Sales could increase in the wake of the jobs bill passed by the Senate last week and under consideration now by the House.
Many municipalities are racing to issue the bonds this year to qualify for the 35% subsidy. The Obama administration has proposed making the program, due to expire at the end of 2010, permanent and scaling back the subsidy to 28%.
"Expanding and making this program permanent, as the president proposed in the budget, will further improve the long-term functioning of the municipal-bond market," says Alan B. Krueger, Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers are seeking to abolish the program altogether. "This money is going directly from American taxpayers to Wall Street investment banks," says Jim Lyons, a tax lawyer for Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), who voted against the stimulus package that established the bonds.
Sen. Grassley began grilling Goldman last week about its profits from Build America Bonds after the financial giant--a lightning rod for criticism of Wall Street excess--ran an ad promoting the bonds in Politico, a political news outlet.
"Build America Bonds are funding vital infrastructure projects from California to New York," the ad said. "Goldman Sachs is proud to play a role in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure--and in bringing much-needed jobs to our communities." Goldman declined to comment.