Plum School District capital improvement plans bolstered through Regency sale, bond refinancing
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Plum School District officials sold Regency Park Elementary and refinanced four bonds to bolster capital improvement plans.
School board members voted unanimously on both measures Tuesday night.
“We’re not taking on any additional debt (for capital projects),” board member Steve Schlauch said. “We actually have a plan in place to pay for it, (and) we’re saving a lot of taxpayer dollars.”
The Regency Park school and land at 4795 Havana Drive was sold to Jeffrey Morris and Assigns for $825,000.
Regency was closed as part of redistricting for this school year.
Superintendent Brendan Hyland said the group plans to gut the building and create an apartment complex with about 50 units.
The property was assessed at about $3.6 million, according to the Allegheny County real estate website.
It was put up for sale by the district at around $1.2 million.
District business manager John Zahorchak said he budgeted $750,000 for it.
The board also adopted a resolution regarding refinancing about $48.6 million from four bonds to save about $3.7 million.
Bond counsel Joe Muscatello of Boenning & Scattergood said he is looking to close on the deal with a bank by Jan. 9.
He declined to disclose which bank until all paperwork was complete.
“We don’t want to screw up this deal,” he said.
The bonds to be refinanced are from 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Muscatello noted the refinancing does not increase the debt service, and it’s still projected to be paid off by 2039.
About $300,000 in savings would be taken in the form of a reduced debt service payment this school year, Muscatello said.
The remaining $3.4 million, and revenue from the Regency sale, would be combined with previously borrowed funds for an estimated $7.2 million project plan.
There’s about $3 million left from a $10 million 2014 bond originally taken out to build a new Regency school.
Improvement projects include HVAC upgrades to Center Elementary and Oblock Junior High School, roof repairs and new boilers at Center, external weatherization and lighting upgrades at all district facilities, replacing the high school field turf and track improvements.
“We have deferred maintenance because we didn’t have the money to put toward a lot of these things,” Zahorchak said. “I’m excited about this … I’m thankful that we have the opportunity to be able to refinance and (we’re) fortunate to be in this situation.”