Jun 12, 2014 2 min read

CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels Area School Board adopted a resolution at a special meeting Thursday to refinance the bonds issued to construct the elementary school.

The bond refinancing will net the district about $100,000.

The district will issue $5,150,000 in bonds to pay off a 2008 bond issue that was a refinancing of the original bonds sold prior to 1990 to build the elementary school.

The district, under the 2008 bond issue, is paying interest rates of between 3.1 and 3.85 percent, said Alicia Phillips of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, the bond underwriter.

The new bonds, if they were sold Thursday, would have included interest rates of between 0.5 and 2.625 percent, she said. If the bonds would have been sold Thursday, the district would have netted $107,736, she said.

The refinancing will not extend the maturity date of the bonds, which will be paid off during the 2022-23 school year.

Phillips said her firm hopes to sell the bonds before next Thursday’s regular board meeting.

The board agreed to set a minimum net gain on the issuance at $95,000. Chris Brewer of Dinsmore and Shohl, the bond counsel, said $95,000 was the minimum gain the district would receive though it could be more depending on the market.

District business manager Amy Todd said she included $100,000 from the refinancing in the tentative 2014-15 budget approved by the board last month.

The board last year approved two bond issues totalling $20 million that will be used to pay for renovations to the district’s three buildings including the elementary school. Work at the junior-senior high school began in the spring.