Groundbreaking of new school to be Jan. 18

The fiscal agent selling bonds on behalf of the Boyle County Schools told the board the state feels good about their financing plans for the new Boyle County Middle School building project on Thursday night.

“I was in touch with KDE over the last week. They’re still in the approval process. I think we’ll know something by the end of next week on how they feel. Financing-wise, they feel good about it,” said Kelly Mersic, vice president of public finance at Hilliard Lyons, which is the fiscal agent selling the bonds on behalf of the district.

She gave the board an estimated timeline for bond sales. The district’s bonds are scheduled to be sold on Jan. 16. At that time, Mersic said, they will lock in the rates for the bonds. Currently, it looks as though the rates will be between 3.45 and 3.75 percent interest for a 20-year bond.

The district should receive the money for those bond sales on Jan. 30.

Superintendent Mike LaFavers said they have scheduled the groundbreaking for the new school at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 18, and there shouldn’t be anything really happening prior to that date.

Mersic said they likely wouldn’t have to pay anything until about 45 days after groundbreaking, so they should be fine, but pointed out that the board had approved a resolution to be able to reimburse itself if money had to be paid out before the bond money came in.

“They said February,” LaFavers said. “The timing is working out great. We just need to cross our fingers on the rate.”

Mersic said they feel good about the numbers.

The board also convened a meeting of the Boyle County Finance Corporation after the closure of the regular board meeting. The finance corporation includes members of the board of education as its board of directors and it acts on behalf of the school district to sell bonds.

During that meeting, Mersic explained that they had put the district through the Moody’s credit rating process and it received a high rating.

“The sentiment was that they were very strong on Boyle County,” she said.

The finance corporation’s rating might be slightly lower, she said. That rating will be released in early January.

“They were impressed with your financial management,” Mersic said.