January 16, 2013 - With last week's sale of general obligation bonds to refund bonds issued in 2004, Lindbergh Schools has saved district taxpayers more than $5.3 million since 1998.
The Board of Education voted unanimously Jan. 8 to approve the sale of $3,585,000 in general obligation bonds to refund roughly $4.4 million of bonds issued in 2004. District officials had projected the refunding would save taxpayers roughly $175,000, but the actual savings was $198,579.
Last week's bond refunding is the seventh conducted by the district since 1998, saving Lindbergh taxpayers a total of $5,315,736, Chief Financial Officer Charles Triplett told the board.
"… I just want to remind the board and the community this would be the seventh refunding now of bonds, and in that time we have saved the taxpayers now more than $5.3 million in interest that will never have to be collected," he said. "The district doesn't get this money. It's not money we have that we can spend on something else.
"We simply do not collect it from the taxpayers …"
The district received 11 bids for the bond refinancing with true interest rates ranging from 0.616695 percent to 0.763569 percent. Raymond James & Associates Inc., of Memphis, had the lowest true interest rate and purchased the bonds.
The district's independent financial adviser, Joy Howard of WM Financial Strategies, told the board the number of bidders submitting proposals to purchase the bonds is a result of Lindbergh's "great credit" and Aa1 bond rating.
Lindbergh Superintendent Jim Simpson told the Call the sole beneficiaries of the bond refundings are district taxpayers.
"… We're aggressive also in trying to make sure we refi (refinance) to save our taxpayers money, and a lot of times people think we're somehow getting the money," he said. "That's not the case. There's not one penny for the school district in this.
"This is just us being good stewards of our community's money and taxes and making sure they have the best business deal. And so we're happy that we have saved the taxpayers of the Lindbergh community over $5.3 million."
Tags: Lindbergh Schools News
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