Goodrich – On Monday night the school board voted unanimously to accept the sale, refinancing and 3.75 interest rate of the district’s original 1998, $14,870,000 bonds.
The successful sale in the amount of $11,365.000 will reduce the school district’s interest expense by about $1,050,972 for the taxpayers, and will lower debt payments over the next 16 years.
‘We refinanced the bond because taxable values are up,? said Goodrich Schools Business Manager, Linda DeCamp. ‘As a district, we always strive to be good financial stewards of our taxpayers? money. One of the ways of accomplishing this is to refinance bonds whenever the timing is good.?
DeCamp compared the district’s actions to a homeowner who refinances their mortgage with the onset of lower interest rates.
‘We are collecting the same amount of money, but less of our expense is interest and more of our payments will be directed toward the principal,? said DeCamp.
The school district’s financing was conducted by the Michigan investment banking office of the brokerage firm Wachovia Securities. Moody Investors Service was asked to evaluate the district’s credit rating quality. The district received a rating of A2, which resulted in bond investors? confidence in the Goodrich district.