Dayton School District First in Oregon to Issue Build America Bonds
Program Championed by Wyden and Managed by State Treasurer Ben Westlund Saves District Taxpayers $1.2 million
Portland, OR - Dayton School District in Yamhill County has become the first public entity in Oregon to take advantage of the new Build America Bonds program championed by Senator Ron Wyden and guaranteed by the State under the direction of the program overseen by Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund.
By using Build America Bonds versus traditional tax-exempt bonds, the school district will employ up to 150 people building and remodeling classroom and save taxpayers an estimated $1.2 million in interest costs on a general obligation bond sale of $11.2 million.
"The goal of Build America Bonds is to create jobs, rebuild America's infrastructure, and save taxpayer money by offering public entities an advantageous interest rate," Wyden said. "The Dayton School District realized the potential of these bonds and became the first of what I hope is a long list of cities, counties, school districts and others in Oregon to take advantage of this program and start getting people back to work."
"The Build America Bonds program is a perfect example of how federal, state and local governments can collaborate to provide the best financing for projects that saves taxpayer money, creates jobs and gets our country back on track," Westlund said.
"Dayton School District is excited about the savings to our taxpayers," Superintendent Janelle Beers said. "Our original projection was $2.10 per thousand of assessed value. The Build America Bonds program has made the average cost $1.74 per thousand. That is a huge savings to our individual supporters. The three projects the District is building will employee up to 150 people over the course of construction."
The Build American Bonds program was introduced as legislation by Wyden in February 2005. Earlier this year it was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In June, Wyden announced that 29 Oregon counties and four cities would be able to issue more than $103 million in the "Recovery Zone Economic Development Build America Bonds" program to finance projects at a lower borrowing cost.
U.S. Department of Treasury reported this month that $17.4 billion in Build America Bonds have been issued by 178 separate entities in 34 states.
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