Elizabeth Forward to save $700K via bond refinancing

By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com

The Elizabeth Forward School District is poised to save more than $700,000 by the end of the year through bond refinancing.
Public finance attorney Chris Brewer of Dinsmore & Shohl and investment banker Christopher Shelby of Piper Sandler offered presentations regarding the refinancing of three 2016 bond series during a Tuesday meeting.
“You’ll not see an extension of your debt or an increase in your debt service,” Brewer said.
“Think of your debt like your home mortgage. You can take the cash up front and nothing changes for your debt service, or you can leave the money in and reduce your debt service,” Shelby said.
Shelby said the refinancing will be done in two stages, since one series can be refinanced earlier than the other two. The Series A bond will provide an estimated $386,00 cash in hand, while refinancing the B and C series of bonds should provide a total of $331,000 cash in hand, Shelby said.
Shelby said a savings of 2-4% is good. The A series refinancing should result in savings of more than 5.3% and the B and C series should result in savings of an unheard-of 8.3%, Shelby estimated.
“We’re in an incredible market,” Shelby said.
Budget approved
The school board Tuesday also gave final approval to the 2021-22 budget with $45.9 million in revenue and $46.387 million in spending, with the difference coming from the district’s fund balance.
Real estate taxes will go up by 2.5%, or about $64 per $100,000 of assessed value, according to Finance Director Al Ragan. The median home value in the district is $98,400. Ragan said the state index would have permitted the district to increase taxes by 4.2%. The district had increased taxes to the maximum allowed under the index for the past two years, Ragan said.
Ragan said 5,524 property owners in the school district qualify who qualify will receive the homestead/farmstead exemption of $236.30 on their taxes. Ragan said the number of homestead exemptions has been going down. He speculated that the reduction may be due to new homeowners failing to register for the program or long-standing homeowners failing to periodically renew the exemption.

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