Board authorizes final $45 million series of 2020 bond, names Dickinson Wright as bond counsel

The Waterford School Board approved a resolution to issue the final series of the district's 2020 bond to provide proceeds for ongoing projects and also approved a separate resolution allowing the district to contract legal counsel for the issuance.

Assistant Superintendent Hildebrandt briefed trustees on the context: voters approved a $150 million bond proposal in 2020; the district issued Series 1 ($35 million) and Series 2 ($70 million) previously and proposed Series 3 to raise $45,000,000 in proceeds. Hildebrandt said the district had moved projects forward and was more than 80% complete on the bond work, increasing the need for the final proceeds.

Financial advisor Steven Burke advised trustees that issuing earlier in the spring would help the district avoid competing with a cluster of May bond issues in other municipalities, and said market conditions were favorable. "At the end of the day, all of the bonds are state of Michigan's ... we don't want to be in a position where the district needs money and we're coming at the same time as 15 or 20 others," Burke said, and he estimated typical borrowing rates "somewhere around 3 and a half percent." He also told trustees that federal proposals to remove the tax exemption for municipal bonds would raise borrowing costs if enacted.

Trustees voted to approve the bond-authorizing resolution for the 2020 bond, Series 3, and later voted to approve a resolution to comply with section 13-52 of the revised school code and designate Dickinson Wright as bond counsel to work with the district's capital bond advisor, Steven Burke of MFCI. Both motions passed by recorded roll-call votes of seven in favor, zero opposed.

Ending

District officials said they planned to proceed with the issuance in the coming weeks so proceeds would be available for contracted projects; the board was told payments and project scheduling would follow established bond procedures.