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Ross schools to refinance high school bonds

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 8:58 PM Thursday, February 2, 2012

ROSS TWP. — The Ross Local School District has embarked on a refinancing of its 2003 bonds that could knock nearly $30 a year off the taxes of owners of homes valued at $100,000.

Voters of the district approved the bonds, originally issued in the amount of $24.9 million, for the construction of the high school and building additions at Elda Elementary School, according to Superintendent Greg Young. The original interest rate on the bonds was 4.48 percent.

“School districts across the country have the right to refinance bonds the same as you might refinance a mortgage,” said David J. Conley, managing director of public finance for Robert W. Baird & Co., the Columbus firm handling the transaction for the district. “Interest rates are really low, so now is a good time.”

Current interest rates will allow the district to refinance $6.7 million in bonds at an estimated 2.25 percentage rate. Conley estimated the total savings in interest to be $1.1 million. In 2006, the district refinanced other parts of the 2003 bonds that saved taxpayers $836,500.

Conley said the district had two options for refunding the savings. One option is to take the savings evenly over the life of the bonds, which will mature in 2024. That option would refund $95,000 per year, the equivalent of 0.25 mills or $7.60 per $100,000 in property value.

The second option would be to recoup the money over three years at $366,000 per year, the equivalent of 0.96 mills, or $29.33 per year on a $100,000 home.

The district can also consider an option of using the savings to support ongoing capital improvement and maintenance of the district.

“The savings cannot be used for daily operations,” Young said.

Conley said that those numbers are based on current interest rates and projections and could change before the bonds could be sold and an interest rate locked in on March 6. The district will have until then to decide how to recoup the savings or to begin the process of creating a permanent improvement fund, which would require a public hearing and board resolution.

For now, however, “school board officials decided to pursue this opportunity as quickly as possible since interest rates are fairly volatile and can change at any time,” Young said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

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