School board refinances bond

Published 11:00 pm Monday, December 16, 2013

The Troy City School Board approved a resolution to refinance a bond that members say should save the school system a substantial amount of money Monday.

Randall Rushton, an Executive Vice President at the Frazer Lanier Company, helped the school system with the refinancing and explained how the restructuring would benefit the system. “What we are asking you to approve is a restructuring of a previous bond,” Rushton said. “You’ll save between $335,000 and $345,000 per year in additional funds. We now have better rates than we had when we originally structured the bond.”

Rushton also shared some good financial news with the board. “The system received an A+ financial rating from S&P, which is a very high investment grade,” Rushton said. “I’m not sure, but I think you are the highest rated school system of your size in Alabama.”

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Superintendent Lee Hicks said the restructuring should be a boon to the school system. “It puts money back in the school system that can be applied to help the students and to fund some of our ongoing projects,” Hicks said. “Anytime we can improve the financial position of the school, that’s a good thing. The board has worked on this now for six months to a year. They have done a good job in getting this done.”

In other business Monday, the board:

• Approved the system’s monthly financial statements. Utility revenue saw a nine percent increase. Sales tax revenue increased by 8.2 percent.

• Approved the resignation of high school science teacher LaTanya Threadgill, effective Dec. 20, and head football coach Mike Dean, effective Jan. 31.

• Approved the hire of Elana Worth as a high school science teacher and Tiller Sikes and George Stone as general maintenance.

• Recognized Heather Templin, TES, Amanda Challancin, CHMS, and Sgt. Major Johnson, CHHS, as 2014-2015 Teachers of the Year. The three teachers were also nominated to the state Teacher of the Year competition.

• Heard a report on the state of the CHMS art program.

The school board next meets on Jan. 27 at 5:15 p.m.