Officials Pleased With Bids

FARMINGTON DISTRICT SELLING $9.8 MILLION IN BONDS

— School District officials were pleasantly surprised this week when they received four bids for the sale of a $9.8 million bond issue to begin the first phase of a new high school.

Superintendent Bryan Law said the apparent low bid was from Morgan Keegan at an interest rate of 2.82 percent. The four bids were close together with the highest just a fraction over 3 percent, Law said.

“They were a wee bit better than we expected,” Law said.

The lower interest rate could save the district thousands of dollars. The difference in the total interest expenditure between the low and the high bids over the 24-year life of the bond issue is about $250,000, according to Dennis Hunt of Stephens Inc., the financial agent coordinating the bond sale for the district.

The figure was calculated on the low bid of 2.83 percent and the high bid of 3.022 percent.

The Farmington School Board will meet at noon Thursday to decide whether to sell the bonds at the interest rate submitted by Morgan Keegan. Earlier in the week, Law told board members interest rates were climbing and the district may not receive a favorable interest rate.

The district will continue finalizing plans for a new competitive gym and fine arts facility, which comprise phase 1 of the high school project.

Architects from the Hight-Jackson firm in Rogers met with the school board Monday.

Larry Perkin and Mark Haguewood, both with Hight-Jackson, presented three concepts for the first phase gymnasium and fine arts facilities as Perkin reminded board members, “What we build now will one day have a high school attached to it.”

The fine arts portion includes an auditorium to seat 569 people with classrooms and spaces for drama, band or choir. The gymnasium is being designed for a minimum of 1,600 seats to accommodate spectators for basketball or volleyball.

With different kinds of seating, the gym can be designed to accommodate almost 2,000 seats, Haguewood said. The plans also range in size from 69,000 square feet to 64,000 square feet, depending on the type of seating.

“We have to be on the conservative side,” Perkin said. “Square footage has a cost associated with it.”

Besides the bond sale, the district also will have $3.5 million in its capital improvements fund at the end of the current fiscal year June 30. Law said the district has applied for about $900,000 in state partnership assistance from the Arkansas Public School Facilities and Transportation Department. That request won’t be acted on until May 2013 after the Legislature meets in its biannual session.

The new high school is planned on a 40-acre tract on Arkansas 170 on the south side of the city.

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