White Salmon Valley School District's board of directors acted last week to save local taxpayers $56,000 that would have been collected for, and gone toward, the repayment of bonds approved by voters in 1988.
During a special meeting at the district office July 30, the board voted to take advantage of prevailing low interest rates to refinance those bonds a second time. The first refinancing took place in 1993, according to Superintendent Dale Palmer.
Voters authorized the 1988 bonds to pay for the additions to Wayne M. Henkle Middle School and the remodeling of Hulan L. Whitson Elementary School.
Approximately $1.09 million remains to be repaid before the bonds are retired in December 2007.
Comparing the refinancing of the bonds to a homeowner refinancing a mortgage, Palmer noted the board had been considering such a decision for several months.
"As stewards of the public's dollars, we felt it was a prudent step to take," Palmer explained. "Besides saving taxpayers money, it made good business sense to do that."
According to the district's financial adviser, David Sitterson of Vancouver-based DBS Financial Services, all of the savings will be passed on to local taxpayers in the form of lower tax rates during the next four years.
"The savings will be passed on directly to the taxpayers; not one penny will go to the district itself," Sitterson said.
Average annual savings over the next four years will amount to about 1 cent per $1,000 of assessed valuation, Palmer noted.
And though the savings may seem more symbolic than significant, he added that the district will continue to look for ways to save taxpayers money.
"The public has been very good about supporting our schools," he said. "And we want to make sure that we repay them for their support whenever and wherever we can."
The bonds approved by voters in 1998 to finance construction of the district's transportation/maintenance center weren't part of the latest refinancing. Those 20-year bonds won't be paid off until 2018.
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