$3.5M Saved For Taxpayers: White Oak Library District

From the White Oak Library District:

February 21 2020

White Oak Library District Saves Taxpayers Millions!

The Board of Trustees of the White Oak Library District is very pleased to announce that through proper management of the District’s bond debt, we will save our taxpayers $3,551,688.89 over the next ten years.

How did the library save the taxpayers that much money?

In February 2010 the White Oak Library District passed a $23 million building bond referendum. This referendum saw a majority of the District’s voters approve the sale of building bonds to fund major improvements to our three branch library facilities. Our facilities are located in Crest Hill, Lockport, and Romeoville. In May 2010, the White Oak Library District sold $23 million in bonds to pay for the aforementioned improvements. At that point in time, interest rates were very nearly the lowest they had been in 30 years. We were very excited to launch our building projects with this funding.

How do bonds work?

For those who are unaware, when publicly approved bonds are sold, the public then must pay a special tax every year for 20 years to pay back the money acquired through the sale of those bonds. In a way, you can think of it as the White Oak Library District having a 20 year mortgage, with our residents making the payments each year from 2010 to 2030 to pay off that mortgage.

What was the money used for?

Between the years 2011 and 2013 we completely gutted and renovated our Romeoville Branch, built a new Crest Hill Branch, and gutted, renovated, and expanded our Lockport Branch.

Saving millions

The good news is, interest rates have continued to drop significantly since 2010. Being the good stewards of the public’s money that we are, in late 2018 we began investigating when it would become feasible to refinance the 2010 bonds to take advantage of the low interest rates and maximize savings for our public.

Due to various rules and regulations and early payoff penalties, it was not in the public’s best interest for us to refinance any earlier than late 2019. In October 2019 we were able to issue new (2019 series) bonds at a much lower interest rate. Then in January 2020, with the proceeds from that sale of new bonds in October, we were able to pay off the 2010 series bonds. This move will end up saving our taxpayers over $3.5 million on their property tax bills over the next 10 years.

This press release was produced by the White Oak Library District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.