Savings in Muldown bonds should lower cost to taxpayers
Mrs. Bloom talks with her second grade students at Muldown Elementary earlier in the school year. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Final figures for the bonds to construct a new Muldown Elementary School show that taxpayers will pay less than previously estimated.
The bonds for the new Muldown Elementary School were sold at lower cost than previously expected, according to School District Business Director Danelle Reisch
She said D.A. Davidson & Co., the broker the school district is working with for the sale, sold the bonds Dec. 4.
The bonds sold to individual investors, banks and institutional purchasers at just over 3 percent true interest cost rate, 0.42 percent less than early estimates, and at a lower annual cost to Whitefish residents.
“The really cool thing about this, when we first went to the taxpayers and asked for approval of this bond issue we thought that the increase on a $200,000 home would be about $130, and based on the actual sale cost of the bond it’s actually about $93,” Reisch said. “So it’s about a 27 percent reduction in what we anticipated. That’s good news for our taxpayers.”
The board approved the final bond resolution during its Dec. 12 meeting, which totals $26.5 million. Whitefish voters passed the bond issue during an October election.
The school board is in the middle of the search for architects to design the new school. A committee will review firms and bring a recommendation to the board for the contractor/construction management contract in the next couple months, District Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt said previously.