School board approves Webster Bank for 20‑year bond refunding tied to state sales‑tax special act

The Levy County School Board approved a recommendation to select Webster Bank to provide a 20‑year loan to refund the district’s outstanding bonds that are pledged to state sales‑tax revenues distributed under a Florida statute special act.

Board members were told the refunding follows the district’s practice of reviewing and refunding debt roughly every 10 years to seek savings and to extend favorable terms. “This refunding will involve pledging revenues, derived from state of Florida sales tax, which are distributed annually to our district under a Florida statute special act,” the superintendent said. The superintendent added that although some still call the receipts “racetrack revenues,” “the revenue we are pledging have no connection to gambling.”

Ford & Associates financial adviser Will Reed summarized the bidding process and recommended Webster Bank after a competitive solicitation. “When we went out, we solicited, I believe, somewhere in the range of 50 to 55 banks,” Reed said. He told the board four firms submitted bids — Webster, Seacoast, Capital One Public Finance and Capital City Bank — and that three offered terms for the full 20‑year period. “Webster Bank ended up putting the lowest bid at a 4.69%. They are lending you money over the full 20 year term, which is very important because that goes through and helps keep the annual cost down at a manageable level,” Reed said.

Reed also described the prepayment structure. “The 5 years are non prepayable, and then there is a slight prepayment penalty that declines down to no prepayment penalty and I believe [by] year 8,” he said. Reed said choosing a bid that locked the 20‑year term — rather than a 20‑year bid with a mandatory 10‑year put — preserved the board’s option to refinance later without being forced to do so at a set date.

Reed noted two local banks submitted proposals but were not the low bidder; the board thanked the local institutions for participating. Legal advisers named during the presentation included Brian Miller, Destiny Young and Jason Brett, who were available to assist through closing.

A motion to approve the recommendation was called; the voice vote carried with no opposition. The motion did not include a recorded roll‑call tally in the transcript. Board materials indicated the original bonds were issued in February 2015, consistent with the district’s roughly 10‑year refunding cycle.

Next steps discussed in the meeting included completing legal closing work with the district’s advisers; Destiny Young was specifically noted as present for the closing process.

The board did not discuss any changes to the underlying revenue source or statutory framework during the meeting.