The San Benito High School District is taking steps to open a new high school in the county. At its April 25 board meeting, the SBHSD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the district’s request to join the Bond Opportunities for Land Development (BOLD) Program.
The board also approved the district’s plan to enter into agreement with an environmental consulting group, construction company and architectural firm to work on the school’s development plan, as well as approving a survey of San Benito Joint Union High School District voters to assess support for a potential bond measure.
At the meeting, Jeff Small from Capitol Public Finance Group told the board about the BOLD Program. The program is offered by the California Municipal Finance Authority (CMFA), which has the authority to issue bonds throughout the state of California. Small said the program would keep the school district from having to pay developer fees up front for the new high school and instead offer developers the means to finance developer fees and school facility costs.
“This program is a great benefit for the developing community,” Small said, “because they do not have to come out of pocket for their developer fees or for other supplemental funding. They can finance that. So this does not affect any existing properties. It is only for developers who want to voluntarily come forward.”
Small referred the board to a memorandum in the agenda, which further explains the program.
In the memorandum, Small said in order to “provide an equitable and feasible funding mechanism, it is essential that future developers voluntarily provide supplemental school fees or place property in a Community Facilities District.”
He said a special tax would be imposed on property owners in the community facilities district and will raise revenues for infrastructure and school facility needs, as well as finance developer fees. The taxes paid will be used by the district to make payments of principal and interest on the bonds.
“We’re happy to tell you that we’ll be actively offering this wonderful tool to them and we are very excited to be reporting back to you, for accountability, the results of that act,” he said at the meeting.
When Trustee John Corrigan asked for clarification on the district’s involvement, Small said if the school joined the program, CMFA issues the bond and would be the name appearing on the tax bill as the program administrator.
“I mean, really, the district has no involvement,” Small said.
He added he recently had a district approve the program, which earned significantly more than entitled to.
“I think this program is successful when a developer wants to use it,” Small said.
Small told BenitoLink the district is “actively meeting with developers” for additional funding for the second high school.
“This program will not impact any existing residential housing units,” he said. “It will impact new or future developments where a developer wants to pull building permits or is in the process of pulling building permits.”
San Benito High School District Communications Officer Adam Breen told BenitoLink the board’s actions are part of the procedures the district must go through to prepare for a new high school.
“The district doesn’t know where the school is gonna be, whether they’re gonna build on [the Best Road] site or build somewhere else,” Breen said. “No decisions have been made yet. There are a lot of factors that go into that.”
Breen said more information on the development of a new high school will take place at the district’s May 23 board meeting where the Facility Needs Committee will present their recommendations to the board.
“All these things are leading up to, hopefully, the inevitable next step of a new high school,” Breen said.
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