of questions. Start with: How fast are you assuming our district will grow, both in terms of new homes and businesses and in terms of rising values of existing property? What do you base that projection on? If you’re projecting out 30 or 40 years into the future, how do your numbers compare with actual growth in our district’s AV over the last 30 or 40 years? What does our county treasurer think about this projected growth rate? Should it be lower? Sixth: You get to hire who you want, and you get to shop around. Los Angeles County’s Byers recommends that before even thinking about issuing bonds, school districts should put out separate requests for proposals for a bond adviser, a bond attorney and an underwriter. Districts can save a lot of money that way, he says, and hiring each entity separately can be cheaper than a package deal. If a school district feels too small to do that on its own, it can turn to its own county treasurer for help, he said, and that treasurer in turn can touch bases with bigger counties for help and advice. Seventh: Keep asking questions. If you’re considering issuing bonds soon, here are some more good ones: In the bond package we are considering, are there going to be any capital appreciation bonds? If yes, why — what are the advantages to us of using CABs, and what would we lose if we didn’t use CABs? Are our CABs callable or convertible, so that we can change them later to a less costly type of borrowing? If not, why not? If we have CABs, what is the anticipated interest rate on each one of the
individual bonds? In what year will each individual bond be repaid? And for each bond, what is the ratio of dollars we get now compared with dollars our taxpayers will have to give the bond buyer later? (Hint: a 1 to 10 ratio is a very bad answer, even for a single bond in a bigger package.) Could we lop the costliest borrowing off the back end of our bond package and still get most of the money we need? How much could we borrow if we didn’t use these capital appreciation bonds at all and stuck entirely with current interest bonds, known as CIBs? Does our bond adviser get more money if our package includes CABs? If yes, how much more? And here is a P.S. for everyone who lives in Humboldt County and cares about schools. Go to the school board meetings. Talk to your elected school trustees. Demand that they ask enough questions and get enough impartial advice to do this right. Because signing up for exorbitant school bonds won’t just stick the next generation or two with outsized property tax bills. It could also alienate voters who would otherwise have been ready to help next time school kids need a new science lab or just a toilet that flushes properly. Give your school board some tough love, people. It’s better for everyone in the long run. Thanks,
— Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
editor@northcoastjournal.com ●
On November 10, 2012, the Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) hosted the 31st Annual Northwest Intertribal Gathering and Elders Dinner. The Gathering was a success due to the generosity of many individuals, Tribes, businesses, clubs and organizations that donated time and resources. The NCIDC Governing Council and staff wish to thank the following for their contributions and support: SPONSORS & DONORS
Bear River Casino; Pacific Gas & Electric; Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria; HSU Center for Indian Community Development; Redwood Capital Bank; St. Joseph Health System; Smith River Rancheria; Yurok Indian Housing Authority. Blue Lake Rancheria; Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of Trinidad Rancheria; Elk Valley Rancheria; Green Diamond Resources; Mad River Community Hospital; Lease Mobile; North Coast COOP; Patterson Conners Insurance; United Indian Health Services; In Memory of D. Lorraine Eichenberg; Gary Markussen Family & Brush Dancers; Linda Sundberg Insurance Agency; Coast Central Credit Union; Davidson Bros. Lock & Safe; Harper Motors; Heidi & Jerry Aldoroty; Pacific Paper Co.; Pauli-Harbour Insurance; Razursharp; Sea Around Us; Susan O’Connor/Ameriprise Financial Services; Humboldt Countertops & Surfacing; The Old House General; Advanced Security Systems; Bay West Supply; Cloney’s Pharmacy; Morse Media; Pearson’s Grocery; Rainbow Body Shop; Dalianes World Wide Travel.
IN-KIND DONORS
Marie Callender’s; AmeriGas; Eureka City Garbage Co.; KIEM News Channel 3; Mission Linen; Sainte Television Group; Sun Valley Floral Farms; Pacific Choice Seafood; Yurok Tribal Police; Reddy Ice; Old Town Coffee & Chocolates; Pepsi Bottling Group Eureka; Eureka Natural Foods; Ray’s Food Place; Safeway; Wildberries Market Place; Big Louie’s Pizzeria; Hensell Material.
VOLUNTEERS
April Carmelo & the Fry Bread Crew; California Conservation Corps; Cheryl Seidner & the Kitchen Crew; Chris “Mo” Hollis; Dell’Arte; Ed Mata & the Fish Pit Crew; Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority; Hermanas Unidos de Humboldt State; HSU F.R.E.E. Club; HSU Social Work Student Association; HSU Native American Living; HSU Y.E.S. House; HSU Y.E.S. House Golden Years; HCAR; Humboldt Recovery Center; Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.; Lee & Bonnie Brown Programs; M.E.Ch.A. de HSU; Redwood Construction; Sarah Jones; Sherriff’s SCOP; Hoopa AmeriCorps Tribal Civilian Community Corps; Valerie Reed and the Pie and Food Service Crews; Wendy Brown; and the many individuals who generously gave their time. northcoastjournal.com • North Coast Journal • Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012
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