School bond issues await decisions by Decorah School Board

Decorah School Board members will be asked soon for decisions involving two school bonds.

The school board has already authorized a $10.4 million bond issue last year as part of the payment for the $19.5 million in renovations and additions at Decorah High School.

A separate $6,330,000 PPEL levy bond issue was authorized by the school board in April.  Bond consultant Jon Burmeister of Public Financial Management now has sent information to the school board saying that the PPEL tax might generate as much as $3 million more in revenues than originally projected because of the increase in property valuations in the Decorah School District.  The additional money, available over a 10 year period, could be available to the school district to help pay for other projects—if the school board approves.

Meanwhile, plans are proceeding for the remaining construction bond issue that would be repaid with the proceeds from the one cent local option school tax.  The proposed LOST bonds have an estimated value of $8,350,000.  However, if a school district issues more than $10 million in bonds in this calendar year, the additional bonds will be "non-bank qualified," which would mean an additional expense of around $175,000 to sell the bonds.

Decorah School Board members will be asked to choose from three options: 1) Lowering the amount of bonds that would be sold in September to $3,670,000, so the school district does not exceed the $10 million limit; 2) Selling the bonds late in December and closing on them early in January, so the school district can use next year's bank qualification limit; 3) Proceeding with the $8,350,000 bond issue in September and paying the higher sales cost.