Teachers can relax, board will borrow money to pay them before Thanksgiving and Christmas

The Grady County Board of Education has authorized the school system finance officer to go to the bank to borrow additional money so teachers will be paid before Thanksgiving and prior to the Christmas holiday as normal.
Because of reduced resources at the state level, Georgia Department of Education officials had notified local boards of education last month that monthly state disbursements would not be made until the end of the month in both November and December.
That would leave the Grady County school system without enough cash on hand to meet its payroll prior to Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.
On the recommendation of Board member Scott Higginbotham, Finance Officer Dan Broome contacted officials with Ameris Bank, where the board has already been approved for a line of credit up to $2 million in the form of a tax anticipation note.
Broome says that Robert VanLandingham of Ameris has agreed to modify the terms of the note based on board approval so that the system could borrow in excess of $2 million.
“I would recommend we increase the line of credit to $4 million and draw on it as needed. We have already borrowed $1.3 million of the $2 million already approved,” Broome reported.
The school system finance director estimates the interest expense to the taxpayers would be approximately $630 based on borrowing the additional $2 million. However, Broome does not anticipate having to borrow the full amount.
“I only plant to borrow what we have to meet the payroll,” Broome said.
The school board voted unanimously to authorize Broome to make arrangements to increase the line of credit for the tax anticipation note. The note must be paid in full by December 31 and Broome is confident that ad valorem tax collections will begin to be deposited and will be sufficient for the board to pay off that note on time.