The Christina School District will borrow $2.6 million to help it complete the Porter Road elementary school under construction in Bear.
The Board of Education approved a “bond anticipation note” at 4.47 percent interest at its August 12 school board meeting at Leasure Elementary School.
The note “provides the opportunity to fund construction today, while waiting for the long-term financing,” said Chief Financial Officer Robert Silber. The project has been in the works for more than six years.
Residents approved the 40 percent local share of the project funding last November during Christina’s capital construction referendum. The state, facing a multi-million dollar deficit last winter, held off on selling bonds on behalf of the district to finance the local share, because doing so would have encumbered the state to ante up its 60 percent share. State officials are expected to sell the bonds next January.
In June, the Christina board also approved the sale of 83 E. Main Street, the school district’s former Newark headquarters to the University of Delaware for $1.6 million because it needed that money to complete the Porter Road school.
In other Christina finance news, the board also approved the district’s financial position report, a document required by the state that shows the district has sufficient funds to meet payroll from July 1 through October 15. The fiscal year ended June 30, and local taxes and state revenue based on enrollment do not arrive until the fall, well after enrollment counts are taken.
Christina closed the fiscal year on June 30 with $14.8 million in unrestricted cash, Silber said. He anticipates an additional $5.5 million in other local revenue. About $9 million in discretionary state revenue will leave the district with a $12 million cash balance after it has met payroll and other expenses through mid-October.
