ARTICLE
During their monthly meeting (May 2019), the Board of Trustees marked an important milestone in the 2017 bond program as they received an update on a $19,700,000 bond sale, which completes the construction funding for Lake Belton High School and Charter Oak Elementary as well as renovations of two existing facilities. The $149,700,000 in bonds voters approved in May 2017 has been issued in two phases with the first issuance of $130,000,000 taking place in August 2017. The district’s financial advisor, Jennifer Ritter of Specialized Public Finance, reported that the April 30 competitive bond sale trustees authorized resulted in the district receiving 13 bids and could support lowering the tax rate. Ritter shared that based on the sale results and higher than expected preliminary taxable assessed valuation growth, the district’s I&S (debt) rate could see as much as a five-cent drop in August 2019 pending certified values and legislative outcomes. Since 2010, Belton ISD has refunded existing bonds eight times to take advantage of low interest rates. According to district officials, that has saved taxpayers more than $13.2 million in interest payments. Also, during the meeting, the oath of office was administered to four trustees who were all unopposed in re-election bids seeking terms on the Belton ISD School Board. Sue M. Jordan, Dr. Rosie Montgomery, Jeff Norwood and Manuel Alcozer were all sworn in.