Sachem Saves Big with Bond, TAN Borrowing

Thanks to a superior credit rating, the Sachem Central School District was able to save approximately $865,000 on borrowing from a bond and tax anticipation note (TAN).

As a direct result of Sachem’s current Standard & Poor's AA+ credit rating, the community saved approximately $765,000 on the bond borrowing and $100,000 on the TAN borrowing.

“This is the actual dollar amount saved if Sachem Schools would have been downgraded,” said Bruce Singer, Sachem’s assistant superintendent for business. “This speaks volumes that we are the proper stewards of the taxpayer's dollars.”

Richard Tortora, president of Capital Markets Advisors, a company based in Great Neck who conducted the competitive sales, said, “Once again during a time when there has been a great flight to quality the district’s strong credit rating has yielded very low borrowing rates.

For the 10 month TAN issue, the district received 10 bids from seven bidders.

The low bid was submitted by Jefferies and Co. at a .3128 percent rate.

For the 18-year bond issue, there were three financial institution who bid with the lowest bid being submitted by Raymond James at a net interest cost of 3.16 percent.