By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
On Monday night, the Brandon Board of Education voted 5-0 to move forward with a bond resolution. Both Kevin McClellan and Bob Eisiminger were absent with notice.
The bond, which was originally received in 1996, was used to construct the aquatic center, and it was refinanced once already in 2008.
“This refunding bond will save taxpayers $1.2 million which adds to the other three refunding bonds for a total of over $17 million,” said Janice Meek, executive director of business services at Brandon. “We had a 4.82 percent interest rate that we were paying, we refunded that to less than half that at 2.37 (percent).”
Refunding a bond is very similar to refinancing a mortgage, and this would decrease the taxes for residents in the district.
The bond will reach maturity in 2026, which means that this is the last chance for the school board to refund the bond since they can only be refunded every 10 years and there are only 8 years left on the bond. This is currently one of four millages payed for by the residents, along with two other bonds and a non-homestead millage.