|
|
|
The Chillicothe R-2 Board of Education met in a special session on Thursday, Feb. 16, for the purpose of considering the sale of bonds for refinancing the Series 2002 General Obligation Bonds.
The board, after hearing from Dick Bartow of George K. Baum & Company, adopted a resolution for the sale of bonds, as related to the refinance issue.
With the original Series 2002 bonds set to mature in 2022, the board elected to extend the refinance of bonds to 2026. Earlier in the week, the R-2 district received an A+ rating for bonds from Standard & Poor’s, and learned that the new series bonds would be bank-qualified, allowing financial institutions to invest in the bonds. According to Bartow, some local institutions have already expressed interest in purchasing district bonds.
As a result of the refinance issue, the new Series 2012 General Obligation Bonds have a net interest cost of 1.8 percent, which is a savings of $881,125 in interest to the taxpayers of the Chillicothe R-2 School District, according to R-2 Superintendent Roger Barnes.
The refinancing and extension of the existing debt allows the district greater flexibility, and keeps the debt service levy of $0.54 current, without the need for an increase. In addition to the interest savings, the refinance issue will allow the district to consider future building issues, with the goal of maintaining the current debt service levy.
“Given the exceptional interest savings and low interest rate of the new refinance issue, the district could possibly be positioned to ask district patrons for a no-tax-increase bond issue for future construction by the year 2015,” Barnes said.
The Chillicothe R-2 Board of Education met in a special session on Thursday, Feb. 16, for the purpose of considering the sale of bonds for refinancing the Series 2002 General Obligation Bonds.
The board, after hearing from Dick Bartow of George K. Baum & Company, adopted a resolution for the sale of bonds, as related to the refinance issue.
With the original Series 2002 bonds set to mature in 2022, the board elected to extend the refinance of bonds to 2026. Earlier in the week, the R-2 district received an A+ rating for bonds from Standard & Poor’s, and learned that the new series bonds would be bank-qualified, allowing financial institutions to invest in the bonds. According to Bartow, some local institutions have already expressed interest in purchasing district bonds.
As a result of the refinance issue, the new Series 2012 General Obligation Bonds have a net interest cost of 1.8 percent, which is a savings of $881,125 in interest to the taxpayers of the Chillicothe R-2 School District, according to R-2 Superintendent Roger Barnes.
The refinancing and extension of the existing debt allows the district greater flexibility, and keeps the debt service levy of $0.54 current, without the need for an increase. In addition to the interest savings, the refinance issue will allow the district to consider future building issues, with the goal of maintaining the current debt service levy.
“Given the exceptional interest savings and low interest rate of the new refinance issue, the district could possibly be positioned to ask district patrons for a no-tax-increase bond issue for future construction by the year 2015,” Barnes said.
