Banta Elementary successfully refinanced $4.733 million of outstanding Community Facilities District No. 2011-1 Special Tax Bonds.

The 2011 Bonds were issued to provide funding for school facilities in the River Islands development via a special tax on property within the development. Similar to refinancing a home mortgage after a number of years with shorter duration mortgage at lower interest rates, refunding of the 2011 Bonds will save taxpayers within the CFD interest expense through the final maturity of the original 2011 Bonds. Additionally, through the application of funds on hand and the restructuring of the repayment requirements, total tax payments required in the future were reduced by over $800,000 in total through 2027.

 “Given the District’s relationship with the River Islands community and the economic challenges that lay ahead due to COVID, of course we’ll do everything we can to be good stewards of any and all of our local taxpayers' investment,” said Board President Gene Neely. “When we saw the opportunity to reduce tax bills in River Islands, we acted immediately to decrease the cost of outstanding debt – and our Administration and the entire team did a great job getting it done, despite everything that’s been going on this year.”

Superintendent Dan Moore added, “The Board and I are incredibly excited to save our CFD’s taxpayers this money, especially when it matters the most – and we’ll continue to do all that we can for our students and all our community, whatever difficulties we all face in the coming months and years.”

Banta Elementary School District is one of the oldest districts in San Joaquin County, having been founded to serve area students in the late 1800s. Through the years, Banta has remained focused on meeting the needs of its diverse student population. Today, Banta has one elementary school, one dependent charter school and two independent charter schools (located in the River Islands development). All campuses are well maintained with many modern amenities.