At its Feb. 11 meeting, the Elkhorn School Board approved the refinancing of long-term debt obligations.
The refinancing was made possible by the low interest rates in today’s bond market.
In a presentation to the board, Michael Clark, director with Robert W. Baird, the district’s financial advisor, said that 10 bids had been received for the refinancing, with the lowest coming in at 0.709 percent.
As a result, taxpayers will realize a savings of $177,660 dollars or 7.418 percent on the bonds, which were a portion of the 2002 middle school bond issue. The bonds will mature in 2017.
“Those savings are 100 percent pure taxpayer relief,” Clark said.
According to William Trewyn, the school district’s business manger, the original interest rate was 4.2 percent.
The debt was able to be refinanced at a lower rate because interest rates have dropped significantly since the initial bond issue, Trewyn said,
“In February 2012, the district was also able to take advantage of lower interest rates by refinancing long-term debt, resulting in $866,000 in debt savings,” Trewyn said.
