Plum schools seek $9.9M loan for $30M renovation and expansion project

The Plum School Board on Tuesday will consider borrowing the first one-third of the money needed for a roughly $30 million building project.

During its meeting Tuesday, the board is expected to hear a presentation from the district’s financial advisors, PFM Financial Advisors, before voting on proceeding with borrowing nearly $10 million.

It would be the first of three borrowings for the project that includes renovations and an addition at O’Block Elementary and renovations at the district’s middle school.

District Superintendent Rick Walsh and business Manager Ryan Manzer could not be reached for comment Monday.

As proposed, the school board would authorize the district’s administration to work with PFM Financial Advisors as financial advisor; Dinsmore & Shohl as bond counsel; Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. as underwriter; and its solicitor to issue general obligation bonds in the amount of $9,995,000.

Two more borrowings of the same amount would follow in 2025 and 2026, according to PFM’s presentation.

According to the presentation, IRS tax law states that a tax-exempt issuer such as the school district can issue $10 million of bank qualified bonds per calendar year.

The district’s total debt is now about $115.7 million, according to PFM. Of that, local taxpayers are responsible for about $104.5 million.

PFM’s presentation shows the district borrowing $9,755,000 for its construction fund this year, in 2025 and in 2026, for a total of about $29.3 million.

Through 2046, the total local cost would come to about $56.2 million.