Belton ISD approves $17M bond sale, refinancing to save about $759,000

Belton Independent School District trustees voted 7–0 on Feb. 23 to approve an order authorizing the issuance and sale of unlimited-tax school building and refunding bonds, series 2026, which combines a $6 million technology allocation with a refunding of callable 2015 and 2016 bonds.

District financial adviser Jennifer Ritter told the board the transaction received a Standard & Poor’s rating of AA-minus and that market conditions allowed the district to replace roughly 4% interest on older bonds with an average interest cost of about 2.492%. “What that ultimately means … is savings of $759,000 to the district simply by exercising this refunding,” Ritter said during the presentation.

Why it matters: refinancing callable bonds can reduce interest costs and free budget capacity for district priorities. Ritter said combining the new-money technology issue with the refunding produced economies of scale that increased savings versus running a smaller, stand‑alone refunding. The underwriters for the sale were BOK (Bank of Oklahoma) and Samco; Ritter reported the offering drew about $50 million in orders for roughly $17 million of bonds.

Details: the refunding replaces debt without extending the term; the district’s presentation described a descending debt‑service schedule that retires debt by about 2034, with the technology portion structured to pay over five years. Ritter said the deal’s structuring preserves future capacity for additional projects because the early years have higher payments that then decline.

Board action and reaction: a board member moved to approve the order and Trustee Norwood was recorded as the second; the motion passed 7–0. Trustees and staff praised district financial management and prior refunding work: one trustee said refundings over the last decade have returned nearly $15 million in savings to taxpayers through lower I&S tax pressure.

What’s next: staff indicated that, if the board’s action stood, the district expected to close the transaction on March 24 and to receive the technology bond proceeds then. The board will handle any required administrative follow-up and accounting to apply savings and new proceeds to the projects identified in the bond documents.