Manatee County School Board hears investment report; staff outline $230M school construction financing plan and tax anticipation note

Manatee County School District officials and outside advisors briefed the school board at a Sept. 16 workshop on the district’s annual investment report and on proposed 2026 financings, including a short-term tax anticipation note (TAN) and a possible certificates of participation issuance for capital projects.

Dominic Cristoforo, director of client advisory services for Deep Blue (the district’s investment advisor), told the board the district’s operating funds and bond proceeds combined to about $527.5 million in investments and that FY25 interest earnings were roughly $21.7 million. He said the portfolio is aligned with Florida statutory priorities—safety and liquidity first, return secondary—and that investments are high-grade and compliant with the district’s investment policy.

"Your investments are consistent with the principles of... safety and liquidity, and return being secondary," Cristoforo told the board. He added that, given recent market movement and expectations of Federal Reserve actions, interest-rate conditions remain volatile.

On short-term cash management, staff said they will present a resolution that evening to authorize a tax anticipation note not to exceed $55 million par, with an anticipated issuance of about $45 million and a final maturity of Feb. 26, 2026, to bridge district operating cash until property-tax receipts arrive in November. The bank bid discussed in the presentation (from Wells Fargo) had been pricing a sample rate in August at about 3.44%; staff said the district can enter a pre-closing rate lock if market conditions are favorable before closing in October.

Separately, the district’s financing team (PFM advisor Laura Howell, bond counsel Ritesh Patel of NGN and underwriter representatives) reviewed a proposed new-money certificates of participation (COPs) package for capital projects. The financing concept discussed was approximately $230 million of new-money COPs to fund a high school (approximately $182.5 million), a Moody Elementary campus upgrade ($30 million) and a Lake Manatee K–8 addition ($17.5 million). The advisors presented two amortization options: level principal-and-interest amortization and an aggregate structure that pushes more principal into later years; both options were discussed with projected true-interest-cost (TIC) ranges tied to market volatility.

Howell said pricing examples in the presentation (prepared in August) showed a 20-year TIC in the mid-4% range; she reported an updated indicative short-term 20-year level TIC near 4.03% as of the most recent close the week before the workshop. The team discussed that Fed-rate expectations could move municipal yields and that the district might defer pricing until market conditions are clearer (targeting a spring closing window for the long-term COPs while proceeding earlier on the TAN if needed).

Advisors described impact fees and the district’s 1.5-mill capital levy as primary sources to secure COP lease payments in part. They explained legal limits (by statute) that permit up to 1.125 mills of the 1.5-mill levy to be used for lease-purchase payments but said the financing team recommends conservatively structuring COPs so maximum annual debt service uses no more than about 50% of the 1.5-mill revenue to preserve capacity for future borrowings and to reduce risk if property values fluctuate.

The team also identified a current-refunding opportunity for outstanding 2016 COPs (roughly $23.76 million outstanding, with about $20.49 million eligible to refund in 2027–2029). Based on August pricing the refunding could deliver material cash-flow savings (present-value savings above the refunding threshold used by the team); advisors said they would continue to monitor and bring formal refunding resolutions if market conditions yield the targeted savings.

No board vote was taken at the workshop. Staff said the TAN resolution would be brought for board consideration that evening, and that the new-money COPs and/or refunding would be brought to the board for consideration on Oct. 28 with delegated-authorization parameters (not-to-exceed par amounts, TIC ceilings and final-maturity limits) to permit market execution if conditions fall within established thresholds.

Board members asked questions about how the proposed COPs affect maximum annual debt-service (MADS), the use of impact fees and the district’s overall debt profile. Advisors said the district’s investments remain highly rated and liquid and that the team would return to the board with formal documents and updated market pricing when the board considers approvals later in the fall.