Carty and Company, of Memphis, Tenn., was the winning underwriter for the sale of the Wyoming County Board of Education’s public school bonds sale. Board members awarded the contract during a special meeting Wednesday.
Carty and Company’s bid provided a proposal that will generate nearly $1 million in extra funding for the school system, according to Robert Steptoe, of Crews and Associates, part of the board’s financial consultant team for the bonds sale.
The facilities bonds were approved by county voters in November 2022 to fund the construction of the new $24 million Mullens Elementary and Middle School, a new $6 million multi-purpose facility at the Wyoming County Career and Technical Center, a new auxiliary gym at Westside High, among several other projects for schools across the county. Cost estimates for all the projects total nearly $34 million.
Of the four bids received for the bonds sale, Carty and Company’s was most favorable to the board with a 3.781880 true interest cost rate, noted Deirdre Cline, county schools superintendent.
The focus of awarding the bid, Steptoe explained, is the lowest true interest cost – which is a combination of the lowest interest rates the school board will pay on the bonds and the highest purchase price that’s bid.
“When you do this, often times, you have the ability to generate what’s called premium proceeds,” Steptoe told the board members. “And that’s what we have here with Carty and Company’s bid.”
The Carty and Company proposal generates about 4.76 percent more proceeds over the par amount of bonds, he noted.
The par amount is the minimum bid, which in this case is $20,175,000.
“When you are able to bid premium bond proceeds, this has the favorable impact of generating additional project funds and so that’s what we have here,” Steptoe said of the bid.
The 4.76 percent premium represents $961,536.89 that Carty is bidding over and above the $20,175,000 minimum bid, he said.
“So, essentially, they’ve agreed to pay the school board $21,136,536.89 – which is that difference of $961,536.89 over the par. And when you do that, you had a good outcome and that’s where we’re at,” Steptoe said. “Congratulations. The $961,536.89 is available in addition to the $20,175,000.”
“The board will eventually be paid beyond our bond – $21,136,536.89,” Cline said. “That gives us premium proceeds, in other words, to use lay terms, the board is going to be making some money on this. We will actually be ahead… we’re making $961,536.89.
“So that is, I think, a reflection of the quality work that this team you see on the screen (financial advisors) has done for us. Also the quality work the board has done in staying in a good financial position, so that we’re a good risk so to speak,” Cline said.
“… That extra, not only the sale of the bonds, which is a big deal, but making extra money that can be used toward these bond projects… almost a million extra dollars – that’s huge,” Cline said. “And I would think the voters and the families of Wyoming County… I think that speaks highly of everything we’ve done on this bond proceeds.”
Once the bonds sale process is completed, the next step will be to get some of the construction projects out to bid, noted John Henry, who becomes county schools superintendent July 1 following Cline’s June 30 retirement.
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In an unprecedented series of groundbreaking events, Wyoming County Schools officials ceremoniously broke ground on three of the major construction projects May 21.
Construction of the Westside High School auxiliary gym and the Wyoming County Career and Technical Center multi-purpose facility are expected to be completed about a year after construction begins.
The Westside High auxiliary gym will be located behind the existing gym and will allow additional practice space and time for the school’s various athletic teams. The $6.7 million cost estimate also includes the artificial turf football field at the school, which has already been constructed and is in use by the students.
Once completed, the Career and Technical Center’s $6 million multi-purpose facility will hold about 400 people and provide space for the center’s graduation ceremonies, awards assemblies, honor society inductions, and other events.
Additionally, the facility will serve as the location for various countywide school events, including the annual science, reading, and social studies fairs, spelling bee, among other contests and gatherings that can disrupt instruction at the schools where they are currently held, according to officials.
The new facility will be located between the Career and Technical Center and the county Division of Highways headquarters and will not impact the current parking.
Students are expected to attend classes in the new Mullens Elementary and Middle School in the fall of 2026 – barring unforeseen circ*mstances, according to officials.
The two-story, $24,464,847 school will consolidate Mullens Elementary, constructed in 1951 as Conley High School, and Mullens Middle, constructed in 1923, into the new Mullens Elementary and Middle School for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and will be located on the site of the former athletic field.
In December, Wyoming County Schools was awarded nearly $16 million in “Needs” funding from the SBA for the construction of the new school.
“Needs” projects are major capital improvement projects funded through the SBA’s general construction fund.
The $15,711,654 SBA Needs Grant will be combined with $8,753,193 from the $20.1 million facilities bonds.
The facilities bond order also includes the following projects:
• Wyoming County East High School’s $2.1 million artificial turf football field already completed and in use by students.
• Security vestibules, or man-traps, are included in the projects for schools that don’t already have them.
Man-traps are small, enclosed vestibules, with two sets of interlocking doors – between which an individual can be “trapped” – and can prevent intruders from entering the main building. In most cases, one door cannot be opened without the other being shut or locked.
Permanent improvement funds were used to construct man-traps at visitor entrances in several schools.
• Oceana Middle School’s visitor entrance, complete with man-trap, will be moved to the rear of the building.
Parents will continue to drop-off and pick-up their children in the front of the building just as they always have. Once the man-trap is complete, however, visitors coming to the school during the day will have to enter at the rear of the building, coming in from the Gilliland Park side.
The office will also be moved from its second-floor location to the rear of the building.
Along with the security vestibule that includes the security window and package transfer, Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades will include a new elevator, in addition to a walking track for the school and community. The cost estimate is $300,000.
• Security vestibule with security window and package transfer, electrical system upgrades, and new gym floor at Pineville Middle, cost estimate is $675,000.
• New playground equipment and walking track for school and community use for Road Branch Elementary and Middle, cost estimate is $100,000.
• New roof at Herndon Consolidated Elementary and Middle, cost estimate is $775,000.
• Security vestibule that includes security window and package transfer, replacement of the wastewater treatment plant, and walking track for school and community use at Baileysville Elementary and Middle, cost estimate is $315,000.
• Electrical system upgrades at Berlin McKinney Elementary, cost estimate is $250,000.
Facilities bonds are earmarked for constructing or improving facilities only, much different from the excess levy – known locally as the “textbook levy” – which funds services to children, such as textbooks and consumable workbooks, extra personnel not funded in the state school aid formula, field trips, school nurses, among numerous other items. County voters approved the most recent excess levy earlier this month.
Wyoming County’s previous facilities bond was approved by voters in 1998 to build Westside High School.
