Proviso Township High School District 209 officials are a step closer to refinancing the remaining $14 million of the $24 million in outstanding bonds that it currently has on the books.
The D209 school board held a public hearing on the second phase of a bond refunding finance plan that it started last year, when the district refinanced $10 million of working cash bonds that were issued in 2008. The move was designed to take advantage of lower interest rates.
The reduced rates, district officials said at the time, would result in substantial savings and provide the district more money to fund major capital investments, such as the district’s master facilities plan.
“In effect,” the Forest Park Review reported at the time, “the district plans to use current funds on hand to pay off $10 million of the bonds that were issued in 2008 for operations, but which were never spent, and to re-issue $10 million worth of bonds this year that will be used for capital improvements.”
Officials said back then that, in addition to a roughly 3 percent reduction in interest rate payments and the possibility of a higher credit rating, the transaction would also increase the district’s non-referendum funding capacity by around $5 million — from $25.5 million to $30 million.
The second phase would entail refinancing $10 million of the remaining $14 million of outstanding bonds issued in 2008. The district would pay down $4 million of those bonds with cash on hand.
District officials noted in a statement this month that this second phase of the refunding plan could lead to an estimated $2.8 million in savings, “for a total savings for phase one and two of $5.1 [million].”
The board is scheduled to adopt two bond resolutions related to the second phase refunding finance plan at a regular meeting in August.
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com
