PEA RIDGE — Refunding bonds which were to mature Feb. 1, 2013, to 2034, inclusively, will save the Pea Ridge School District $178,220.83 over the life of the bond issue. That is 7.91 percent less than payments would have been on the Feb. 1, 2005, issue, according to Dan Lovelady with Beardsley Public Finance.
Lovelady presented the proposal to the School Board at a special meeting Tuesday, Sept. 20. He saidthere were three bids received and the lowest was from Crews & Associates Inc. for a rate of 3.217424 percent.
“You will actually budget the original amount of your payment,” Lovelady told board members, then refund the savings.
“For most districts, those were restricted funds, but for you guys, these are not because you do not receive bond debt assistance.
But, to show you made qualifying expenditures ...” he said they needed to budget the money appropriately. He said the moneycould be spent on anything facility related, but could not be used to buy buses.
“Rates are absolutely at a historic low. I thought they were low last June,” Lovelady said. “This is just unheard of. Obviously, everyone can take advantage of this right now. It’s very fortunate any time the district can do better than what we had original projected.”
The board members - Darin Wright, Ann Cato, Josh Ramsey and Jenny Wood - unanimously approved the bond restructure.
Rick Webb was absent.
News, Pages 1 on 09/28/2011