Sale of bonds is among next steps for board

     Now that the Monticello Community School District’s bond issue has passed, and a new middle school addition to the high school is on the way, proceeding with the sale of bonds is the next step.

     Travis Squires, managing director of PiperJaffray Companies, was on hand to give a presentation about finances and bond strategies, and answer questions, at the Monticello School Board meeting Sept. 25.

     During a 90-minute session, Squires discussed general financial information of the Monticello Community School District, capital financing for Iowa school districts, project finance considerations, and what he called a comprehensive financial planning model.

     The key decision facing the board, and discussed in detail at the meeting, is when to begin selling issuing the bonds. The options seemed to be narrowed down to beginning the process in early October, in order to begin receiving funds and lock in an interest rate prior to Jan. 1; or to wait until May, when the district would have more SAVE funds available to help with early costs.

     When it came down to how to finance the $15 million bond, the board members were in agreement that it was better to finance sooner rather than later. They agreed it would be better to sell the $10 million bond before the end of this year, and the $5 million by March 2019.

     “We need to sell them all now,” said Johnson. “I don’t want to wait to clear out to May with the uncertainty out there.”

     Squires offered to meet with the school board during a special work session on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. to review the penny sales tax and bond financing rules.         

     Squires offered a possible timetable to get this done, noting that in order for the board to receive bond funds by the end of December, two weeks’ lead time followed by a two-month window would be required.

     The Oct. 9 meeting will be to approve going ahead with these plans. That would allow the board to set the date for the sale at the Oct. 22 regular meeting, approve the sale in early November, approve issuance of the bonds in early December, and closing and receiving bond funds in late December.

     Squires also asked which portion of the funding would be sold as bonds during this early sale.

     “Is that the sales tax component ($7 million), or is that selling a portion of your general obligation bonds, or is that selling all of your general obligation bonds ($15 million),” he asked.

     (Editor Kim Brooks also contributed to this article.)