Capital City Bank is low bidder on $7 million bond issue for Grady County School System

The Grady County Board of Education took another step toward finalizing the issuance of $7 million in general obligation bonds to fast track school construction projects.
Clifford C. (Bucky) Kimsey III, senior vice president of Raymond James & Associates appeared before the board Tuesday night to report on the bond placement.
Kimsey told board members that Capital City Bank was the low bidder on the bonds with a rate of 1.39 percent. Capital City Bank was represented Tuesday night by Assistant Vice President Sandy Reagan.
“We had eight banks that reacted and made bids. It’s unusual to get that many. Capital City came in at 1.39 percent, which is an enormously good rate. The next lowest rate was 1.49 percent from Chase,” Kimsey said.
Attorney Thomas L. Lehman presented the various bond resolutions that needed to be executed in order to proceed with the bond issuance.
“Basically, you are borrowing $7 million at 1.39 percent to be paid back over a five-year period. You will be using the proceeds from the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to pay off this debt. The school system is fortunate to have a man like Dan Broome and this is all done with his approval. He makes good sense to me and this is all consistent with what he recommends,” Lehman said.
Voters approved the bond issuance as part of the most recent ESPLOST referendum. The money will be used in large part to fast track a major construction project at Southside Elementary School to replace the portions of the original main building that have been deemed structurally unsound.
Architect Ray Finger of Thomasville reported Tuesday night he had been busy working on plans for the new administrative building and classroom buildings to be constructed at Southside.