Thanks to state legislation there is a new one-time option that the Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees could act on in order to raise up to $5,000,000, and place the money into a special working cash fund that can be active for a full decade; perhaps working as a partner with other bonds that usually roll over every three years. As DACC’s President Dr. Stephen Nacco explained after Thursday (May 23rd) evening’s Board of Trustees meeting, a new provision in Illinois law allows community college districts and higher education to now pursue a bond selling option that public and K through 12 education has done for years.
AUDIO: So you sell general obligation bonds, and then use that revenue in a working cash fund. And then pay it off over the course of about a decade.
Danville Area Community College Art Department instructor Ronald Scott Johnson, who also serves as a co-advisor for DACC’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, gives a presentation to the Board of Trustees with current Phi Theta Kappa students.
But Dr. Nacco says just because that DACC Board of Trustees CAN do this now does not mean they WILL right away.
AUDIO: DACC, for years, has never gone into debt, never does debt service; doesn’t take out loans with interest for anything. We’re not going to do anything precipitously. We don’t have to sell the bonds if the rates are bad; and right now, the rates are not really conducive for sales. So we’re not going to sell them until we see that they’ll be a good return on the sale.
Dr. Nacco says should the DACC Board of Trustees go this route some day, the funding would most likely be restricted for capital construction and technology expenses; items such as completing Hegeler Hall or the Clock Tower; or purchasing new computers.
