Stafford officials review bond scenarios, timing and tax impacts at joint meeting

At a special joint meeting of the Stafford Municipal School District board of trustees and the City of Stafford council, financial adviser Clarence Greer of RBC Capital Markets presented options for a potential school bond election and outlined the district’s existing debt profile and the tax impacts of several bond-package scenarios.

Greer told trustees and council members that Stafford has issued 22 separate bond transactions totaling about $253 million and has paid off roughly $159 million in principal; he said the district currently has just under $90 million in voted bonds outstanding. Greer described four affordability scenarios the district could consider, and he walked through estimated tax-rate impacts and per-household effects under conservative growth assumptions.

The presentation matters because the board and council are considering whether to place a bond authorization before potential changes in state policy and because a bond would move some capital costs off the district’s…