Local News
RISD reaps $1 million benefit from 2006 ‘swap’ agreement
ROCKWALL — By Jim Hardin
Herald-Banner Staff
The Rockwall Independent School District entered into a financial agreement in 2006 that has turned into a million-dollar benefit.
“I will tell you, this thing is working exactly as it was planned back four years ago and has done well,” Mike Singleton, the school district’s chief financial officer, told school board members Monday night.
“This is really good news,” he added. “We can cash in a million dollars and bring it in for our debt service fund and use that to keep our tax rates down and use for our finances.”
For the last several months, Singleton said, school officials have been evaluating tax rates on bonded debt and ways to handle financing for $65.7 million remaining from the 2006-2007 bond authorizations. He said officials looked at how the financing could affect the tax rate, noting that the school district’s property value had not increased as quickly as originally projected.
“So, we’ve been looking at all sorts of ways to proceed forward to do this financing and to do it with minimal amount of grief on our tax rates,” Singleton said. “So, one of the options we had resulted from something we put into place in 2006.”
The 2006 action was a “swap agreement.”
“That’s exactly what it’s called, where we swap an agreement with the bank in the way we calculated interest on that,” Singleton said.
“Initially,” he said later, “we had some negative aspects of that, but as the yield curve went up on interest rates, that turned out to our advantage.”
According to information provided to school board members, Rockwall ISD entered into a swap agreement on June 6, 2006, to reduce bond interests costs and take advantage of a potentially “steepening” yield curve. The school district exchanged monthly cash-flows with a bank, paying a fixed rate of 3.853 percent instead of the then-comperable fixed rate of 4.83 percent.
The resulting savings to RISD taxpayers — $5,585,000.
The swap was amended on July 1, 2006, to increase the advantage of a potentially “steepening” yield curve. This swap resulted in an additional interest cost savings of $222,000.
The school board also approved Teacher Retirement System of Texas TRS-ActiveCare as Rockwall ISD’s medical plan provider. This state health plan ensures about 92 percent of Texas’ school district, according to information provided at the meeting.
The school district’s cost will be lower, but the exact cost will not be known until later this year.
“I think this is kind of a paraphrase of what I understand after the discussions we’ve had,” said board member Chris Cuny.
“There’s always going to be confusion when you change a plan, the uncertainty. But my understanding is that we’re essentially providing the same health care benefits that we currently have. It’s going to be a lower cost, not only to the district, but hopefully to the employees who choose to cover their family.”
- Local News
-
-
BEST grants awarded to new teachers
RISD students were scrambling back to classes this past week. Along with the new students were a whole new slate of first-year teachers. At the beginning of each school year, the Rockwall ISD Education Foundation, Inc. presents each new teacher — new to Rockwall and new to the teaching profession — with a grant of $200. The funds are to assist the teacher in offsetting the expenses of setting up a classroom.
-
September means movies in the park
“Movies in the Park” has transformed into “Fun Family Fridays,” a City of Rockwall Parks and Recreation old-time family event at some neighborhood parks in September.
-
TAMU-C attendance tops 10,000 for Fall
Texas A&M University-Commerce registered its 10,000th student on Friday, Aug. 20 at 2:38 p.m. making the fall 2010 enrollment one of the largest in school history.
As of 3 p.m., university enrollment was up to 10,031 students with more students expected prior to the first day of class on August 30. -
Main Street prepping for second annual ‘Rib Rub’ competition
It’s almost time to fire up the grills again for the Downtown Rockwall 2nd Annual Rib Rub & Run on Sept. 11.
-
Award-winning dedication to landscaping | Rockwall Resident wins national contest
Serving as a consultant in war-torn Iraq, Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Sands had quite a surprise waiting for him when he got back home.
-
City of Fate will hold public hearings on tax rate Sept. 7
The City of Fate will hold public hearings Monday and Sept. 7 on a proposal to increase property tax revenue by 13.2 percent.
Both public hearings will be held at the Fate Community Center, beginning at 7 p.m.
The proposal calls for the city’s tax rate to increase from 21.44 cents per $100 of taxable value to 24.69 cents. -
‘Publishing error’ delays action on budget, tax rate
Rockwall County commissioners’ plans to vote on several budget items this week were changed due to what County Judge Chris Florence termed a “publishing error.”
-
DA: No evidence of criminal activity involving Heath assistant
The Rockwall County criminal district attorney and the Texas Rangers have found no evidence of criminal activity involving a Heath resident’s allegations against Assistant City Manager Kim Dobbs.
-
DA formally announces ‘No Refusal’ plans
Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper, joined by law enforcement officials from throughout Rockwall County, formally announced plans this week for the second annual Labor Day No Refusal Weekend.
-
Employment in Rockwall County slowly improving
Jobs are being created in Rockwall County and the local unemployment rate dipped slightly between June and July.
- More Local News Headlines
-
