Texas School District Bond Refi to Save $16 Million
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/09/21
A Texas school
district has refinanced its outstanding bonds, a move that it expects
will save nearly $16 million. According to Waco
Independent School District, the bonds' maximum
interest rate of 4.28 percent has been cut down to 1.655 percent.
That will save $15.84 million over the remaining life of the bonds,
which ends in 2038.The bonds total $85.3 million.
"This was a
clear opportunity to demonstrate good fiscal stewardship of district
and community resources," said Superintendent Susan Kincannon,
in a statement. "With RBC
Capital Markets' guidance, our business and financial
services department has taken advantage of low bond interest rates to
save taxpayers money and reduce the district's debt service costs."
As part of the
process, the district's Moody
bond rating of Aa2 was reaffirmed.
"This is a very
strong rating and reflects the district's history of conservative
budgeting and management practices," added Assistant
Superintendent for Finance, Sheryl Davis. "We are pleased that
favorable market conditions provided us the opportunity to refinance
these bonds to benefit the district and taxpayers."
The funding, which
involved a series of bonds, paid for construction of a high school
and three elementary campuses.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.