THURSDAY
October 22, 2015 • 75¢
SERVING OSWEGO, MONTGOMERY AND BOULDER HILL FOR MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY
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Some property tax relief ? School board mulls bond restructuring proposals
GRADE EXPECTATIONS
By NATALIE STEVENS news@shawmedia.com
Work continues along Rt. 71 in front of The Tillers Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (above), in front of Oswego High School (below) and at Washington Street (bottom).
Work continues along Route 71 in Oswego TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ERIC MILLER emiller@shawmedia.com Contractors for the Illinois Department of Transportation are proceeding with the reconstruction and widening of Ill. Route 71, between U.S. Route 34 and Orchard/Minkler Road in Oswego. IDOT has advised village officials that construction should be completed late next year, according to Jennifer Hughes, the village’s public works director and engineer. “Based upon my experience on these types of projects, I believe that (completion schedule) remains accurate for the amount remaining and the forces committed to the work,” Hughes said. When completed, Route 71 will have four lanes of traffic, a center turn lane and adjoining sidewalk and shared-use path. Noise walls will also be installed along portions of he highway west of Washington Street.
A proposed bond and interest restructuring plan for School District 308 could result in some relief for taxpayers in the coming years. PMA Securities, which has worked with the school district on several financial projects, presented a series of options for a bond and interest levy restructuring plan to the school district board last week. Robert Lewis, the managing director for PMA Securities, explained that in Illinois municipal bonds are restricted to a maximum of 20 years, which he said makes it so organizations are “initially forced to pay off bonds in a relatively short time frame.” However, when an organization chooses to restructure they start over with a “brand new 20 year limitation.” Unlike with home mortgages, Lewis said that municipal bonds cannot be paid off all at once, but must be paid when the bond reaches its call date. The other goal with municipal bonds is to “create a payment stream that is consistent over time,” Lewis said. Currently, the school district is in year three of a four year $10 million bond restructure, which is keeping the bond and interest levy flat at $33.1 million. That restructure ends in levy year 2016, which will see it jump to $36.3 million. If the district wanted to lower that amount, the deadline to change the levy amount for 2016 is in March 2017. Lewis explained that started in February 2017 the district will have $104.7 million of bonds callable, which means they would then be able to lower bond and interest on those payments and alter the payment structure. Before explaining the three “options” available for potential restructuring, Lewis said there were several common assumptions made. First, was that all of the plans have an annual level payment over the course of the restructure.
See TAX, page 9
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Oswego East stays in prep football playoff hunt with win over Minooka / 16
Area greenery explodes with a burts of fall colors / 1
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