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Commission hears updated revenue forecast; limited-obligation bond will add roughly $5M annual debt service
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Summary
County finance staff told the School Capital Fund Commission that updated January sales-tax receipts raise the fiscal-year sales-tax revenue estimate to about $30.2M; staff also said a proposed 2026 limited-obligation bond issuance is modeled to add roughly $5 million per year in debt service and extend obligations through 2046.
County finance staff presented an updated revenue and expenditure outlook to the School Capital Fund Commission, including a sales-tax revenue revision and the modeled impact of a 2026 limited-obligation bond issuance.
Carrie (speaker 3) told the commission that the only major change since the March forecast was receipt of an additional month of Article 39 sales-tax revenue (January). She said the fund is now projecting about $30,200,000 in sales-tax revenue to end the fiscal year and noted that $4,100,000 of Article 39 receipts had been reallocated to operating expenses earlier in the year and are therefore unavailable for capital projects. On expenditures, Carrie said staff factored a planned 2026 limited-obligation bond issuance into the five-year debt-service snapshot; that issuance increases estimated annual debt service by about $5,000,000 and extends related obligations through 2046.
Staff also reported the commission currently manages approximately 86 active projects (69 with Buncombe County Schools and 17 with Asheville City Schools) and that projects presently needing funding total roughly $57,000,000; the proposed 2026 issuance would address about $56,000,000 of those needs, staff said. Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the prior forecast baseline (about $30.05M before January actuals) and discussed matching debt terms to asset useful life when deciding bond terms.
Why it matters: The revenue revision and modeled debt-service increase shape what the commission can afford in PAYGO versus financed projects and affect whether the commission recommends a GO bond referendum or issues limited-obligation debt.
