By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Area Schools recently sold $8,325,000 worth of new bonds related to the Nov. 2019 bond issue, garnering what Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Michael Engelter says are excellent interest rates ranging from 0.25% to 1.55%.

The total revised debt service will be about $8,780,000, which will replace the higher old debt of roughly $9.2 million, which involved interest rates ranging from 3.75% to 5%. According to Engelter the transaction overall will save taxpayers approximately $400,000, or 5% in costs. Engelter says the district was able to obtain the lower interest rates in part because of its outstanding bond rating, which was recently upgraded by Standard & Poor's Global from A-minus to A.

In another matter related to the bond issue, the Board of Education recently approved several technology purchases totaling about $368,000, based on the recommendation of technology consultant Barton Malow and the district’s bond-facilities committee. Engelter says the purchases include roughly $160,000 for audiovisual equipment for the STEAM center from Digital Age Technologies; access control via electronic swipe card entry points from Presidio Networking for just under $51,800 and video surveillance from Moss Telecom for roughly $156,600.