Portales School Board approves sale of bonds

Arrangements for selling $3.5 million in general obligation bonds to support Portales Municipal Schools were finalized Monday in a unanimous 4-0 vote of the school board.

Board president Rod Savage did not attend Monday’s meeting.

The bonds were approved by voters in a 2021 election, when voters approved $7 million in general obligation bonding for the district. The first $3.5 million in bonds were deployed in 2022.

Regina Gaysina, director of the municipal finance department in Albuquerque of RBC Capital, the financial advising firm handling details, said final bond terms will be arranged so that the bond issue does not raise taxes in the district.

After the board’s decision on Monday, the resolution was scheduled to be sent to the New Mexico Finance Authority for approval. According to the schedule, final NMFA approval is expected in March, the final interest rate will be set and documents signed to close the bond by April 14, according to the plan the board approved on Monday.

Superintendent Johnnie Cain said bond funds are used for capital improvements like parking lots, new roofs, and replacement of lighting in one gymnasium “so it looks like a gym, not a dungeon.”

In an analysis presenting the bond proposal, Gaysina noted that the school system’s tax base is valued at $335.9 million and grew by 5.5% from last year. She noted that the $3.5 million is well within the school system’s debt capacity, which she estimated at $8 million.

Investment markets and interest rates, she said, are volatile, but interest rates showed a slight decrease in January. Inflation rates are lower, she said, but prices are still rising.

In other matters Monday:

n John McKinley of Woodard, Cowan and Co., the Portales accounting firm that conducts school system audits, noted that the company’s examination of 2022 school district financial records yielded an “unmodified” rating, the highest quality rating available. McKinley also noted no “findings,” or serious faults in record-keeping policies and practices. He cautioned the district about reliance federal contributions that totaled $9 million, about $3.9 million of which was due to COVID-19 recovery funding. “If they take it away,” he said, “you have to make up the difference.”

• The board authorized amending the district’s facilities master plan to include an athletic track and facilities at Portales Junior High.

• The board set April 26 as the date for the board’s Senior honors Banquet.

• Cain noted the New Mexico Legislature is discussing House Bill 130, which would increase the number of days and instruction hours required in the school year. Current requirements call for 180 days, but the proposed legislation does not specify a new number of days required. The proposed legislation seeks to require 1,140 of instruction time. Adding days, he said would increase district revenues from the state’s funding formula.