College Place Public Schools completed the refinancing of its 2012 School Bond to take advantage of the first opportunity to complete a tax-exempt refunding to save taxpayers in College Place $4,282,294 over the remaining life of the bond. District officials have been watching the market for a number of years to determine the best time to complete the refinancing. The 20-year school bond approved in 2012 to build a new Davis Elementary school, College Place High School and remodel of Sager Middle School reaches the 10-year anniversary this spring, making it the perfect time to take advantage of historically low interest rates and the IRS tax-exempt “refinance” allowed at the mid-point.
College Place Public Schools Superintendent Jim Fry applauded the work of Business Manager Julie James to get the refunding done, “Julie had to put in a lot of extra time and energy to make this bond refunding happen. If you have ever refinanced a home loan, think of that amount of paperwork times a thousand. But, she knew that this work would benefit the taxpayers of College Place; which made it all worth it.”
Recently, College Place Public School’s rating with Moody’s Investors Service was upgraded to Aa3 because of CPPS’ stellar financial practices and the growth in its schools and community. The upgrade helped attract additional investors to compete for the purchase of the bonds during yesterday’s open market. “With the threat of increased interest rates coming, we knew we needed to move quickly to do the best we could for our local taxpayers. Already in early 2022 the rates have started to climb, so under the leadership of our school board, we were able to get this done and gain a favorable return for our community members,” said Superintendent Jim Fry.
The savings will be spread out across all taxpayers in the College Place Public Schools tax precinct over the remaining life of the bonds set to expire December 1, 2032.