At the Dec. 2 meeting the Northern Lebanon School District Board authorized administration to work with PFM Financial Advisors LLC and Saxton & Stump to prepare for the issuance of a $3 million general obligation note via a bank loan RFP, and separately approved transferring $3 million from the unassigned general fund balance to the Capital Projects fund.

Board members and administration framed the measures as steps to finish ongoing construction while protecting the district’s operating fund balance. "Our current total ending fund balance at the end of June 25th was 12 million," a finance official said during discussion, noting $535,000 is non‑spendable and $990,000 is committed for health care. The administration recommended splitting an anticipated $6 million need into $3 million in loan proceeds and $3 million in transfers to avoid depleting unassigned reserves.

The authorization (item 7.3) gives municipal advisor and bond counsel authority to prepare an RFP and solicit loan terms; board members emphasized the loan documents themselves would come back for a future vote. "This is not your approving your loan documents. This is approving Brad and his team to go out and to get us a potential loan at the most competitive rates that he can find," one administrator said.

Members discussed constraints on borrowing for operating expenses and how joint-authority bonds for CTC renovations would affect district obligations. Ms. Martin (business/finance) said the district’s capital projects fund balance is about $3.3 million and that the unassigned fund balance would fall from roughly $7.2 million to around $4.2 million if the transfer proceeds.

Both items (7.3 and 7.4) passed unanimously. Board members said they expect these to be among the final borrowing and transfer steps as construction wraps up.

Next steps: administration will issue the RFP and return to the board with recommended loan terms and any required final documents before any borrowing is executed.