Schools
School Board Issues $78 Million Bonds
The bonds, if repaid over the full 19-year term, would cost Bensalem taxpayers $43.8 million in interest.
The Bensalem Township School Board finalized financing for $78 million in renovations and a 23,000-square-foot addition to the 44-year-old Bensalem High School Wednesday night.
In all, the board approved the $80.7 million purchase, which is comprised of the $78 million cost of the school's improvements, plus the original issue premium, financing and underwriting costs and legal fees. Settlement is slated for Nov. 26.
The district's financial advisor, Warren White, of First American Municipals, said the district will pay interest rates ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent over the life of the term.
The true interest cost, or the "most accurate way of describing interest paid," is a rate slightly above 4 percent.
"The rates are fixed. You have a contract," White said. "You don’t have to worry about the interest risk."
If the district repays the bond over its entire 19-year term–which ends in 2032–it would cost $43.8 million in interest. In sum, that amounts to $121.8 million, based on documents that the district provided to Patch.
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The bond almost failed to advance on Wednesday. The approval, which requires five affirmative votes, at first failed with a 4-1-1 vote. Board member Kevin McKay abstained from voting initially and member Pam Strange cast the lone no vote.
Before abstaining, McKay said his opinions on the project were "well documented" and added that failing to act on Wednesday would mean "bad financial repercussions to the district."
Find out what's happening in Bensalemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When the vote failed, McKay put a motion on the floor to reconsider the vote. During that roll call, he cast the affirmative vote needed to move the bond issue forward.
Officials said previously that the high school's construction could begin in June and the earliest it could be completed was September 2015. Plans call for a 23,000-square-foot addition and renovations to reconfigure the high school into four academies: Ninth Grade, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Fine & Performing Arts, and Business and International Studies.
Prior to the vote, Jo-Ann Williamson, a member of the Bensalem Music Boosters, shared that the seats in the high school's auditorium are "unbearable," the curtains are stained and torn and the orchestra and choir hallway has been known to flood, putting at risk equipment and instruments that should not get wet.
"It's a very very public space for us," Williamson said, adding that outside groups and visitors frequent the auditorium too.
Board President Ralph Douglass said Williamson's concerns "have been recognized and addressed" during the renovations.
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