LH refinances bonds
Taking advantage of favorable interest rates, the Laurel Highlands School Board has refinanced about $15.6 million worth of existing bond issues to save about $861,000 over 20 years. At a special meeting Wednesday, the school board gave its final approval for the refinancing of the 1998 and 1999 bond issues.
Jim Haberman of Nat City Investments Inc. said the bonds have been sold and it will take about 30 days to close on the transaction.
He said the school district realized a net savings of all the bonds and related fees of 4.8 percent, although he said he had anticipated saving about $140,000 more over the life of the new bond issue when he originally talked to the school board in June, when he said the market was at a 45-year low.
“We expedited the process very quickly because we didn’t know where interest rates were going to go,” he said.
Noting that the market has been erratic and the refinancing was delayed once, Haberman said the school district will realize a $242,000 savings from this refinancing up front this fiscal year and $237,000 next fiscal year. He said the savings in subsequent years will be about $14,000 to $15,000 each year.
Haberman said if the board is thinking about floating a new bond issue, this would be the time to talk about it and give Nat City the go-ahead to move forward with the process.
Board members said nothing about a new bond issue, but they voted later in the meeting to advertise for a project manager and architect “for any future building projects.”
The subject of renovating Hutchinson Elementary School has come up at previous meetings, with the board receiving an estimate of $7.9 million for such a project. The Hutchinson overhaul is included as a recommendation in the school district’s strategic plan, which also recommends the closing of Kennedy Elementary School and combining kindergarten to second grades and third to fifth grades in the remaining schools as reconfigured elementary centers.
Meanwhile, the board authorized Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba to contact the office of state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. to inquire about an audit of the Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania Inc.
President Edward S. George said the question is whether Central Tax is collecting all taxes it should for the school district. He said the mercantile tax is a particular concern.
George said he has been asked if the agency is collecting the mercantile tax from everyone who should be taxed, but he said school officials do not know the agency’s collection process and would like to have all the facts.
“It’s like having a third party coming in to see what they are doing,” he said.
The school board, at the request of Central Tax, hired an outside attorney, the Law Office of Ira Weiss in Pittsburgh, last fall to help collect delinquent mercantile taxes. A few business owners came forward to protest the tax, and their legal counsel and Weiss have been working to talk through a resolution.
George said that effort continues.
Among other matters, the board met in executive session for about half an hour to discuss a personnel contract issue.
They also voted to post and advertise for an assistant high school principal.