Brighton Schools Sells First Series of Bonds

Brighton Area Schools will save taxpayers millions of dollars after the sale of its first series of bonds for its back in May.

School board members unanimously approved the sale for $49 million in bonds during its meeting Monday night.

Brighton Superintendent Greg Gray said the district saved taxpayers $17 million on just more than half of the bond issue in just one day.

According to Maria Gistinger, assistant superintendent of finance, the district was also able to save taxpayers money due to a high bond rate.

"We sold them at $1.4 million less to get the same amount of money," Gistinger said. "So we earned more revenue from the sale, but we pay back less in the long run. You may wonder why anybody would pay more for something than the base value of what they're (the bonds) are worth. It all depends on the demand in the market."

The district sold the bonds in amounts of $5,000. Most of the major buyers were large banks that were interested in having state tax exempt bonds for their mutual funds to offer their investors, Gistinger said.

Board Vice President Bill Anderson said the bond sales have put the district in a great position to aggressively pay the bond off substantially earlier than the original 30 years.

Gray said he couldn't yet guess on how soon the district would be able to pay off the bonds.

"Every year is dictated on an amortization payment schedule that has a negative three percent decrease in home values for 30 years," he said. "So anything better than negative three percent in our home values, means we're paying off more."

Amortization is the process of paying off a loan.

The district will have the funds from the bond sales in its account by Aug. 8. Gistinger said that because the district is not obligated to spend the money for six months, she is looking for investment opportunities to earn interest for the district.

For more information on the latest bond updates, visit Brighton Area Schools online and click on the 'Bond Update' tab featuring a construction helmet.