By Staff
NILES - The first of four meetings hosted by Niles Superintendent Doug Law is scheduled to take place Tuesday night at Westside Elementary. The dates have been arranged by Law to give people a chance to address questions relating to the bond proposal issue.
Each meeting will be held on a Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Westside Elementary and will include a short presentation and a question and answer session. The dates for the remaining three meetings are Jan. 31, Feb. 7 and Feb. 14.
Law said he has received questions from several members of the community concerning the interest costs from borrowing $105 million over a long period of time. A statement released by Law said the interest for the bond issue would be less than the principal because, he explained, “we estimate to sell the bonds for an average interest rate of 5 percent.”
Until the bonds are sold, Law said the exact amount could not be known, but, said the schools may stay within the amount budgeted, which is 5 percent.
The estimated cost of interest on $105 million, Law said, was $102.6 million, with the length of the bond issue being 32 to 37 years. But, the actual term will depend on the amount of growth in the Niles community and the plan, Law said, is to make some of the bonds available to people in the community to invest in the future of the district.
Many states help finance new school buildings and renovations, but Michigan is different. The state has a program to help keep millage rates consistent called the School Loan Revolving Fund. The SLRF covers part of the high payments at the beginning of the bond issue, which the school system must pay back, with interest, over the final 10 to 15 years.
The state actually lends the school 10s of millions of dollars and does not expect payments for the first 20 years, but, the program will cost an additional $70 million in interest.
The bond proposal is asking for seven mils and includes all construction costs and interest payments to complete the project.