Less than 24 hours after Glenview School District 34’s Board of Education approved the move, district officials sold almost $9.5 million in new debt in the first step toward funding its pending two-year “life safety” construction program and retiring older debts.
The district floated $9.49 million of new bonds – $5.75 million in “health-life safety” debt, and $3.74 million to refund, or pay the “Series 2005” bonds ahead of schedule – Tuesday afternoon.
Eric Miller, assistant superintendent for business services, said the sale aims to take advantage of historically low interest rates and nullify the uncertainty of state funding by tripling the amount of “life safety”-related construction projects slated for the next two school years, district officials said. Issuing the new debt would also allow the district to avoid tapping its reserves, officials added.
Under the plan approved in August, District 34 will spend up to $12.7 million for that work via this week’s sale and another $6.7 million sale in January, including borrowing an additional $6.9 million to refund bonds issued in 2005 and 2006.
The district will spend $6,661,242 in 2016-17 on life safety projects at Henking, Lyon, Pleasant Ridge and Springman middle schools, and $6 million during 2017-18 on projects at Glen Grove, Hoffman, Westbrook and Attea Middle schools.
The Illinois State Board of Education has certified $10.4 million worth of those projects as life-safety eligible, meaning the district can use “life safety” bonds to pay for them, Miller told board members Monday, just before they approved this week’s sale.
District officials will have to issue $2.3 million in “working cash” bonds to cover the remainder, and will do so in January, he said.
Board members also gave unanimous preliminary approval for a 2015 property tax levy of $48,562,000 – a 3.6 percent increase over last year’s levy and an amount that would cost the owners of a $300,000 home an additional $18.
They set a “Truth in Taxation” public hearing on the levy for Dec. 14, just before the board’s regular meeting that same night, at the district’s administrative office, 1401 Greenwood Road.
Last month, district officials cited the needs to ensure all new property growth is accounted for and to defend the district’s financial health against potential legislative changes to school funding.
But they also said the final levy, which must be filed with the Cook County Clerk by Dec. 29, is likely to be closer to a 2.1 percent hike over last year because of the difference between that deadline and Cook County’s property assessment schedule.
Because District 34 officials won’t know when new properties come onto the tax roll, and won’t get information on new construction from the county until next year, they must estimate that amount in the preliminary levy; and that means estimating more than is probable, to ensure all new property value is “captured,” Miller said Oct. 12.
The 2015 levy is payable on 2016 property tax bills and will fund the district’s $73.1 million budget for 2015-16, which was approved last month.
Jon Davis is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.