The Brandon School District is jumping on the refinancing bandwagon, aiming to save money on the district’s outstanding bonds debt.
The school board gave the go-ahead at the April 9 meeting for the district’s administration to refinance two sets of facilities bonds, one set issued in 1995 of around $815,000; and a $25 million set of bonds issued in 1998.
The resale of the bonds was handled by Wachovia, formally A.G. Edwards & Sons, on Dec. 3 and have an new average interest rate of 4.15 percent.
The refinancing will save the community around $4.3 million over the next 18 years by reducing the debt retirement payment by about $110,000 per year over the life of the bonds, said Gary Kelley, district interim superintendent.
‘The window of opportunity for the district to refinance these two groups of bonds is great,? Kelley said. ‘The bond market has shifted and interest rates are lower right now. We had been watching the market since February, but we held off until the time warranted significant savings.?