The Richland School District has three years to complete its capital referendum projects

The Richland School District has three years to complete its capital referendum projects.  With the help of PMA Financial, the district is investing bond proceeds at the same time that the referendum window is open and projects are being planned, completed, and paid for.  Initially $15 million was invested from the first sale of bonds into different investment categories, including Government Investment Pools, Treasuries, and CDs.  As some of the short-term investments mature they are returned into an investment pool.  The district uses those “liquid” monies to pay referendum bills that are due.  

As of January 22, the Richland School District has paid $1.5 million in referendum expenses.  Charlie Verbos, Director of Finance from PMA, gave an update to the Richland School District Board of Education at its meeting last night (Monday) on the interest rates associated with the investments.

Each month, the board is updated on various referendum projects. On April 2, residents of the Richland School District voted on five district-specific questions.  Three of those questions centered around Board Member seats, while the other two were regarding referendum questions. Referendum Question 1 asked voters if they would support increasing the revenue limit by $2.3 million in 2024-25, $2.4 million in 2025 -26, $2.5 million in 2026-27, and $2.6 million in 2027-28 with no increase to the tax rate. 

Question 2 asked voters if they would support the issuance of bonds, a form of a loan, in an amount not exceeding $27,160,000 to be used for district upgrades on a variety of specific items.  For more information regarding the referendum projects, including budgets and vendor inquiries, you can access a special website dedicated to the referendum projects.  This page can be accessed directly from the Richland School District website, or by going directly to: richland.referendumfacts.org.