School Refunds Series 2010, Portion Of 2014 Bonds

The Bourbon School Board voted Nov. 16 to refund its Series 2010 bonds and a portion of its 2014 bond to lock in a lower interest rate, save $150,000 over the next 14 years and increase the bonding capacity of the district by $250,000.

Dick Bartow of George K. Baum & Company told board members a tax reform package that had passed the U.S. House of Representatives that day was driving the need to hurry and refund the bonds.

“There’s a provision in the tax which has caught everybody in our industry by surprise and that is this: if the tax act is approved, advanced refundings become taxable,” Bartow said. “Even if it doesn’t get done in December, Congress has the ability to say anything prior had to be closed by Dec. 21. We couldn’t clear these bonds as taxable.”

Bartow explained that a 2.81 percent interest rate would shoot up. “We have a low interest rate market. We think the probability of interest rates going up is pretty high. We think the probability of the tax act passing is pretty high,” he said. “If we want to lock in today’s interest rates going forward, we think we need to get this done by the end of December.”

As of March 2017, the district had $7.9 million in outstanding money left to pay back on its bonds. Another bond cannot be issued until 2019 and the capacity would be in the $1 million range. If the district waited until 2021, capacity would increase to $2 million and in another eight to nine years, would be $6-7 million.

Snow Removal

Board members awarded the 2017-2018 snow removal bid to Jared Boast of Boast Enterprises at a rate of $84 per hour and salt at $20 per 100 pound bag.

Central Office

A bid was award to Richardet Floor Covering for $8,530 for the central office flooring. Vinyl plank flooring is expected to be installed during the Christmas break.

Parking Lot

A motion was rescinded for asphalt bids for the elementary teachers parking lot at Jost Street and Starhawk Drive. A bid was awarded for patching, resealing and restriping the lot to Earnie’s Drivway Seal for $4,350.