Board approves three bond resolutions including tax anticipation note and SCAGO bond

The Chesterfield County School Board approved three financing resolutions intended to preserve cash flow and access capital: a tax anticipation note (TAN), the district's annual SCAGO general obligation bond and a taxable bond to pay premiums on an earlier installment purchase revenue bond.

Why it matters: The instruments provide short-term cash for operations before property taxes are collected, and they authorize issuance of bond proceeds that fund capital projects the district identified in a recent referendum. Board members were told the package is similar to prior years' financing and is sized so it will not increase the local tax rate.

Bob Damron of Compass Municipal, the district's financial advisor, explained the TAN to the board: "The tax anticipation note is simply a cash flow tool that allows to make sure that, there's adequate funds in the district to pay before the taxes start coming in." Damron said the TAN is typically paid off by March 1 as taxes are collected.

Damron and the district bond counsel described two bond issues: a publicly bid, tax-exempt SCAGO general obligation bond sized to avoid increasing the tax rate and to capture approximately $7.4 million of net new capital money from sales-tax proceeds once county collection figures are finalized; and a smaller taxable bond to make a scheduled payment on an earlier installment purchase revenue bond that had a taxable component.

District staff said they will finalize exact bond sizing once the county provides final collection figures as of June 30. The board moved and approved the three resolutions in a single vote.

Ending: Administration said the resolutions mirror prior years' financing practice and that staff and advisers would return with final numbers once county receipts are confirmed.