Board, resident differ on bond refinance plan

The Kennett Consolidated School District School Board debated the refinancing of a bond issue.

What might be called a courteous controversy emerged Monday night as the Kennett Consolidated School District School Board debated the refinancing of a bond issue.

Among the agenda items for the school board’s monthly meeting was a proposal to refinance the General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2005. Mark Tracy, assistant to the superintendent for business affairs, said the amount of debt involved was about $17 million.

The board members had reviewed several options for refinancing the bond at a finance committee meeting on September 21. One option was to receive all the savings immediately. The others involved taking a smaller amount of savings in the short term while reducing the amount of money the school system would pay yearly over the duration of the bond issue.

Tracy said the committee had recommended the third option, which would reduce the amount of debt service by an average of about $700,000 for the next eight years while extending the overall borrowing by two years.

But district resident Jim DiLuzio told the board members he believed it was more advantageous for the district to take the

larger upfront savings, rather than reducing the amount paid over the life of the bond. DiLuzio said the first option provided more than $300,000 over the third in immediate savings to the district.

DiLuzio said he was concerned that the public had not had enough time or opportunity to hear the options. He suggested that areas such as art and music education and support positions could benefit from having the increased funds readily available. If the third option were the only one to be debated, DiLuzio said, the board members should vote it down.

Board member Dominic F. Perigo Jr. said he trusted the administrators when they said the third option was the best for the district. And he said there was ample opportunity for residents to become involved in the process.

Perigo pointed out that DiLuzio himself had attended the finance committee meeting, and said other residents should do the same. “It’s not our fault,” Perigo said. “We give ample time.”

Tracy said the finance committee had discussed the various options for two hours, and felt that while the first option did offer more savings in the short term, it made more financial sense to reduce the amount of money the district had to pay year to year.

The options were comparable to either refinancing a mortgage and going on a vacation with the savings, or reducing the mortgage payment over its life, Tracy said.

In the end, the board voted unanimously to proceed with the third refinancing option. Board President Heather Schaen thanked DiLuzio for expressing his concerns, and said that while the shortterm savings of $700,000 did look attractive, the third option was better in the long term.

DiLuzio said after the meeting he remained unconvinced the third option was as advantageous as the board believed, but he was glad to have been able to exchange his views with the members in a mutually respectful way.

In other business, the board approved hiring Yvette Line-Koller as the new director of special education. Line-Koller told the board she was “thrilled to be here.”

Superintendent Barry Tomasetti said recent searches of lockers and classrooms at the high and middle schools were routine, periodic checks meant to prevent anyone’s bringing in drugs. The searches were not a response to any particular danger, he said.

“We just want to make sure that we keep them out of our schools,” Tomasetti said.

Tomasetti said the district would continue to work with the borough on grants to help defray the cost of a school resource officer.

MATT FREEMAN 21ST CENTURY MEDIA District resident Jim DiLuzio addresses the Kennett school board on the subject of bond refinancing options.