KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
College of the Canyons refunded $31 million of outstanding general obligation bond debt, providing the district’s taxpayers with a cash flow savings of $8.3 million over the next 23 years, officials said Tuesday.
The Santa Clarita Community College District Board of Trustees, which oversees the college, voted on Nov. 6 to refund these particular general obligation bonds from Measure M, and the sale was completed on Nov. 14, according to COC officials.
The Government Finance Officers Association, a national nonprofit organization that provides guidance on the improvement of government management, advises agencies to consider refunding bonds if they can save taxpayers at least 3 percent; however, the college managed to save more than four times that amount.
Overall, the college district saved 12.96 percent of the bonds that were refunded.
“The Santa Clarita Community College District worked quickly to take advantage of the current low interest rates to refund the bonds and save local property owners money in the process,” said College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook. “Due to the college’s solid credit ratings, our bonds always attract interest from strong and stable investors.”
These savings are to be passed onto property owners in the district, as the bond is funded by property taxes.
This particular refund represents an overall savings of 12.96 percent of the bonds that were refunded.
This is the third time in six years the college has refunded bonds in an effort to lessen the tax impact on property owners.
A 2016 refunding yielded $35 million of savings, which represented more than a 23 percent reduction, and lowered taxes for area property owners.
“The Measure M and E Citizens Oversight Committee applauds Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook and the college’s staff for their efficient actions to maximize the bond funds to improve the college’s two campuses,” said Nick Lentini, chair of the bond oversight committee. “Their proactive approach in working with professionals in the bond management industry has repeatedly provided savings to Santa Clarita Valley taxpayers.”
Measure C, which local voters passed in 2001, funded a number of significant facilities improvements at College of the Canyons, including the cost of acquiring 70 acres of land on Sierra Highway to build the Canyon Country Campus, and constructing the Hasley Hall classroom and computer facility, the Aliso Hall and Aliso Lab science facilities, and the Pico Canyon Hall performing arts classroom and rehearsal spaces.
The funding provided through Measure M, approved by voters in 2006, helped the college complete a number of facilities projects, including construction of all the initial buildings at the Canyon Country Campus.
It also qualified COC to receive state matching funds used in building the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center that now offers more than 40 Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs.
Other key projects included the Culinary Arts building, the Mentry Hall classroom expansion, The Library and Learning Center expansion, the Applied Technology Education Center at the Canyon Country Campus and the Canyons Hall student services center.
Together, Measure C and Measure M qualified College of the Canyons to receive $56.2 million in construction funds from the state. Colleges that have local bond funds available are given priority when applying for state funding.
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Cheerleaders “Oversight Committee applauds”
If you ever believed that oversight committees weren’t in the pocket of the district, this should disabuse you of that belief.
The only function of an oversight committee is to report to the public on the expenditure of bond funds. It has no say in bond issuance, refunding or otherwise. When was the last time you saw a report to the public on expenditures? (not the dog-and-pony show for the board)
In fact, has the oversight committee ever reviewed expenditures? If yes, those expenditures should be on its web site (which doesn’t exist). Good luck finding anything.
But yes, it has reviewed reimbursements to the district for administrator salaries and found that ok, despite the law and the promise to the contrary. That means taxpayers are paying interest on the salary (at least doubling the face amount) for salaries until the bonds are paid off.
How many millions of interest payments has that cost taxpayers?