The Fountain Hills Unified School District governing board will soon vote on the sale of bonds approved in the November 2013 election.

Officials are considering breaking down the sale into two phases that would divide the $8 million into two sales of $4 million over the next two years.

The governing board met in a study session following its regular meeting Jan. 22 to discuss bond sales and go over the progress of the bond oversight committee.

It was stressed multiple times that all plans are currently fluid and subject to change, and that the evening’s proceedings were to be viewed as a status update leading into final discussion and an eventual vote.

According to Superintendent Tom Lawrence, the bond group has had two meetings so far, primarily focusing on constructing project lists and projecting a possible timeline for the expenditure of bond monies.

“We’d like to get the major projects up and going in order to capitalize on cost savings of the current construction market,” Lawrence said.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company has been tapped to help plan and carry out the bond sales and, at the study session, Managing Director Bob Casillas presented the board with their progress.

Casillas explained that the current plan is to sell the bonds in two groups including Series A (March 2014) and Series B (March 2015). Each sale would equate to $4 million, combining to make up the total bond value of $8 million.

The board will consider a bond resolution at an upcoming meeting for the first sales (Series A), and would need to vote again on Series B come next spring.

FHUSD would be able to start spending bond monies on projects after March 10 if the current schedule is maintained.

“That’s when the ball can get rolling in earnest on our projects,” Lawrence said.

The board stated a strong interest in making sales available to Fountain Hills parties first, one of the many details that will be further discussed and voted on at an upcoming meeting.

The next big date on the bond agenda is the week of Feb. 3, when Stifel would secure a credit rating, receive insurance quotes and select an insurance company (if any) based on cost benefit analysis.

The board would then consider a resolution Feb. 12 authorizing the issuance of school improvement bonds.

The week of Feb. 17 or Feb. 24 is currently flagged to market and underwrite bonds and execute a bond purchase agreement with March 10 serving as the estimated date to close on the bond issue.

Projects

Much like the calendar for the bond sales, Lawrence reminded everyone that the current project list is “flexible, very fluid.”

“But this is the best estimate based on the information that we have, as decided by the committee,” he added.

The bond oversight committee is made up of Gerard Bisceglia, Steve Conrad, Jim Dickey, Doug Hayward, Dwight Johnson and Dana Saar.

While their working project list is broken down into more specific details, the list for Phase I and Phase II projects were presented to the board in more broad categories.

Following Series A bond sales, Phase I projects include $250,000 for courtyard/ playground shade structures, $335,089 in building security and $1,598,000 in field, landscape and playground upgrades.

In total Phase I projects amount to an estimated $4,068,590.

Phase II projects include $237,400 for parking lot resealing and striping, $524,084 for lighting retrofits, $450,000 for buses and $1,500,000 in technology. All told, Phase II projects amount to $3,866,484, for a combined total through both Phases of $7,935,074.

Lawrence said that the board would continue to vote for approval of specific big ticket projects, and possibly have individual study sessions for more involved projects like the controversial resurfacing of the high school football field.

Vote

Next up, the board is expected to vote on a resolution approving the sale of Series A bonds, not to exceed $4 million with a repay period not to exceed 19 years.

The tax rate listed within the resolution is not to exceed 6 percent but, according to Casillas, the actual figure is looking to be around 3.5 percent.

The board is expected to consider and vote on this resolution at the Feb. 12 meeting.