ELIDA — A decision by Elida schools officials to refinance the district’s facilities and construction bonds will result in more than $2 million in savings to taxpayers, treasurer Joel Parker said Friday.
Recently, Elida schools refinanced $26.5 million of outstanding bonds issued for the construction of the Elida High School building in 2008. The project cost a total of $38.2 million, but Parker said the district was only able to refinance a portion of those bonds.
The move will save the district’s taxpayers approximately $2.1 million over 20 years.
“The Elida School District Board of Education wants to take every opportunity to reduce taxes to our constituents,” Parker said, “and with favorable bond market conditions, we think this refunding provides a great opportunity to save money for the community.”
With interest rates dropping from an average of 4.8 percent in 2008 to 3.3 percent in 2016, Parker said it was a perfect time to refinance outstanding bonds.
“Just like on your own personal home, it gets to a point where it’s advantageous to take advantage of market interest rates dropping, which is what we did,” Parker said.
