Sangamon Sun

Ball-Chatham Community Unified School District 5 Finance Committee met Oct. 17

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Those in attendance:

Becca Lamon

Charlotte Montgomery

Tiffani Saunders

Pat Phipps

Laura Calderon

Andrea Rediger

Amy Byers

Tammie Beck

Anne Noble

PMA and Sitfel provided a presentation on municipal bonds, the district current debt, and financing options for the future.  

Municipal bonds are issued with variable repayment plans that typically do not exceed 20 years. Bond principal and interest are levied by the County Clerk on property taxes.

The existing debt of the district is $29,045,000.00 and is set to expire on June 30, 2029. Currently, bond debt equates to $0.64 per $100 on property taxes. The district has worked to keep this rate stable and under $0.70 for many years.

Future borrowing options can occur through General Obligation (GO) bonds. These bonds are non-referandum bonds. The DSEB limit for these bonds is the $1,171,795 annual payment. Our capacity to borrow under DSEB is between $10-13 million dollars. This money would flow to working cash to fund capital projects or go through Health Life Safety via the ROE/ISBE approval of projects to address capital needs. Working Cash requires a BINA hearing which would trigger a 30 day petition process. If 10% of the community signs a petition, then the project would have to be taken to the voters or discontinued.

The district can also explore funds through a referendum. The election cycles were reviewed and the associated deadlines. A successful referendum requires community engagement and buy-in. Various methods to engage the community were discussed. It would need heavy involvement with the district architects.

OCCST was discussed. We currently receive about $4 million in OCCST annually. This money covers small capital projects that Fund 20 does not have the capacity to fund. Large scale projects will require bond proceeds.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/cusd5/Board.nsf/Public