The School Board for the Pulaski County Special School District on Tuesday accepted the lower of two bids for the refunding of a 2012 bond issue, a move that will generate $810,399 in debt payment savings for the district.
The board took the bid made by an investment team led by Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., which offered an interest rate of 3.257861 percent on $22,295,000 in bonds.
The other interest rate bid of 3.269895 percent was offered by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC.
The district was previously repaying the bonds at an average interest rate of 3.73 percent, documents presented to the board last month showed.
Jack Truemper of Stephens Inc. told the board that the payments on the bond debt are structured in a way that the district will realize nearly all of the debt payment savings from the lower interest rates over the coming two school years. The savings over that time will be about $769,268.
Superintendent Jerry Guess said the savings will be set aside until the School Board decides how to use it, whether for a facility project or to meet other district expenses in the 2017-18 school year and beyond.
The use of the money is unrestricted, Guess said.
"Everything is on the table. I know the board is concerned about a raise [for employees]," he said. "They are also concerned about facilities. There are a whole lot of needs and not a whole lot of money."
The refunding of the April 2012 bond issue comes in advance of plans by district leaders to issue $65 million in new general obligation bonds to pay for the expansion and renovation of Sylvan Hills High School in Sherwood. The new bond issue was made possible when voters in June approved extending the levy of 14.8 debt service mills from 2035 -- when the 14.8 mills were initially due to expire -- to a new expiration date in 2048.
Property owners will continue to pay taxes at the district's current, overall 40.7-mill tax rate but will pay taxes at that rate for 13 additional years.
Metro on 07/12/2017