The Trenton R-9 Board of Education has agreed to refinance general obligation bonds it currently has, a move that would potentially save the district as much as $450,000 in future interest payments.
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The Trenton R-9 Board of Education has agreed to refinance general obligation bonds it currently has, a move that would potentially save the district as much as $450,000 in future interest payments.
On a 7-0 vote, the board approved a resolution locking in interest rates at 3.78 percent over the life of the bonds, which run through 2019. The bonds are currently financed at a rate of 4.55 percent for the Series 1999 bonds and 5.35 percent for the Series 2000 bonds.
According to Dick Bartow of George K. Baum, refinancing the bonds would give the board some flexibility in regard to future funds available to the district, even as soon as this fall. Depending on what the district’s assessed valuation is determined to be, Bartow said the district could set its debt service levy lower than the current 99 cents while still having enough money generated to pay the obligation bond payment. Superintendent Craig Noah said the debt service levy could be dropped by as much as five cents, depending on the assessment numbers. An option also available to the district would be to pay off the bonds early if the debt service levy is not reduced.
Bartow noted that any reduction in the district’s total levy as the result of this action could take place in debt service only. The general revenue levy would not be affected. He did present to the board some scenarios that could be looked at in the future should the board want to generate additional general revenue funds without having to raise the levy higher than the current number.
To refinance the bonds, the board will sell them to George K. Baum which, in turn, would sell them to other buyers. Bartow said the district’s portion of the bond sale would be closed within the next 60 days.
In other action, the board set a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 2 to review bids for the high school tennis court project.
An executive session for a student concern was not held.