Central Greene OKs $9.9 million bond issue for high school project
WAYNESBURG – The Central Greene School Board agreed to partially fund renovations and an addition to Waynesburg Central High School through a $9.9 million in bond issue Tuesday. The board unanimously accepted the 25-year bond issue, which pushes the district’s debt up to $33 million, the previous debt of about $24 million from the construction of a new Waynesburg Central Elementary School and additions and renovations to other existing buildings from 1994 to 1997, according to business manager Walter Stout.
The vote to accept the bond issue passed 8-0. Board member and new vice president Jane Owen was absent because of a family emergency.
According to the district’s investment banker, Thomas Kinney of HT Capital Markets of Pittsburgh, the district received both great insurance and interest rates because of good fiscal management. The district will pay about $343,000 a year until 2031 to repay the bond issue, said Kinney.
Both Kinney and W. Ronald Stout, senior bond counsel with Thorp Reed & Armstrong of Pittsburgh, explained the bond issue at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Stout said in light of the new information, the board will be able to adopt a resolution resolving that the board will not raise the property tax rate beyond a state index in 2007. The resolution also would allow the board to adhere to a budget timeline as used in the past instead of having to pass a district spending plan early in the year. The requirements are outlined in Act 1, which was signed by Gov. Ed Rendell earlier this year.
“Knowing Act 1 is upon us and we have to stay in the index, we were waiting for these numbers to see what it will do to fit into our index,” said Stout. “We will put the resolution on the agenda next month to say we resolve to not raise millage beyond the index.”
Act 1 requires school boards to seek voter approval through a referendum if a district were to decide to raise taxes past a certain rate.
The board plans to float another bond issue in 2008 to finance the remainder of the estimated $20 million high school project, $17 million of that amount arising from construction costs.
Also as part of the project, the board awarded a contract for $17,677 to Civil and Environmental Consultants to test the ground at the site of a possible addition to the high school.
Stout said the addition would house six science classrooms and laboratories and double the space of the existing band/chorus room.