District Seeks $20M Phase 2 Borrowing for Fountain Hill; parameters resolution capped at $24M
Summary
PFM presented a roughly $20 million Phase 2 borrowing for the Fountain Hill project; a parameters resolution sized at $24 million will be brought to the full board for approval and pricing is expected in February with a mid‑March close.
The Bethlehem Area School District heard details Monday on Phase 2 of financing for the Fountain Hill project and the timeline to issue bonds.
Mr. Shear, a representative of PFM, told the combined committees the district is "looking at roughly a $20,000,000 financing for phase 2," and that bond counsel will prepare a parameters resolution that, as is typical, will include a conservative authorizing cap of $24,000,000. "Again, we're not gonna borrow 24,000,000...that just gives us the flexibility to properly size it the day of pricing," Shear said.
Shear described the planned sequence: finalize documents and rating-agency materials over the next few weeks, price the bonds around Feb. 10 and close in mid‑March. He recommended a wrap‑around structure to minimize near‑term budget impact and said there were no immediate refinancing opportunities on existing issues because those rates remain low.
Board members asked questions about gross local effort and legal borrowing capacity. Administration confirmed the parameters resolution will be added to the district's upcoming voting-meeting agenda (Jan. 26) for full-board consideration; no vote occurred at the committee meeting.
Next steps: bond documents and the parameters resolution will appear on the Jan. 26 voting-meeting agenda; pricing is expected in February and the transaction is targeted to close in mid‑March.
