RE1J school district moves up bond sale up to January 7

Locals have a chance

The Gunnison RE1J school district’s final $45 million bond sale could happen as early as January 7 to lock in the interest rates that are currently being offered by investors.

As recently as two weeks ago, the plan had been to wait until late January or early February to make the sale when the market had a chance to relax after the recent economic tumult.
Todd Snidow, a vice president with George K Baum & Company, which is handling the sale, says the relaxation doesn’t appear to be happening and he expects interest rates to increase throughout the first quarter of 2009.
In addition to needing the lowest possible interest rate to meet the requirement of the bond authorization, which set a cap of 6 percent, the district needs to get to investors before other districts that are also trying to sell their bonds.
According to Snidow, there are $27 billion in municipal bonds going to market this year, and with such a wide variety of investment options, investors will be demanding a higher interest rate to buy the bonds.
“It’s a very hard judgment to make, but there are going to be a lot of bonds hitting the market relatively soon and we want to be at the front of that wave,” says school board president MJ Vosburg.
Local investors interested in purchasing pieces of the bond, which will be sold in $5,000 increments, can contact Sherry Hansen, a vice president at George K Baum, at 1-800-722-1670 or see the prospectus at www.meritos.com.