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Health & Fitness

District 200 Refinances Debt to Save Tax Payers Money

Last week, CUSD 200 successfully completed a plan to refinance and reduce a portion of its outstanding debt. The District was able to reduce future tax levies by over $7 million.

Last week, CUSD 200 successfully completed a plan to refinance and reduce a portion of its outstanding debt. The District was able to reduce future tax levies by over $7 million. The Board of Education and school administration began in late spring to implement the two stage plan to reduce tax levies over the next ten years.

 

The first stage of the plan was completed in May 2012. The Board of Education took advantage of low interest rates by refinancing debt from 2003 which had been issued for additions and renovations at the District’s two high schools. This first stage reduced future tax levies by almost $1.2 million by reducing its borrowing rate on a portion of our debt to 3.02% from 5.25%. According to Assistant Superintendent for Business Operations Bill Farley, “we are excited for this opportunity to save our tax payers by refinancing a portion of our debt at lower rate.”

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The District finished the second phase of the plan by using money received from the sale of the old Hubble property to pay off high interest debt. This final phase reduces future tax levies by over $5.8 million and, according to Farley, “fulfills the commitment of the Board of Education to use proceeds of the sale of Hubble.”

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The two-stage plan directly affects tax payers by reducing the amount of taxes that the District collects from its residents. Tax payers should realize reductions in the next six years beginning with taxes collected in 2013.

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