The Erie City School District Committee of the Whole voted by unanimous consent to recommend a $10,000,000 bank-qualified borrowing to the full board as the next step in financing phase 2 of the district's facilities plan.

Melissa Mays, a managing presenter from Public Financial Management (PFM), told the committee the recommended approach emphasizes gradual borrowing and maximizing the bank-qualified $10 million limit for calendar year 2025. Mays said the district’s long-term interest-rate environment is “at the 30-year historic average” and described a phased strategy intended to smooth future debt-service obligations rather than trigger larger spikes later.

The recommendation follows the district’s December 2024 municipal bond issuance and an earlier multi-step financing illustration presented last year. PFM presented two illustrative pathways: a larger near-term borrowing that would have reduced long-term refinancing flexibility and a $10 million bank-qualified option that preserves a five-year call feature and limits near-term incremental debt-service impact. In the $10 million illustration, PFM estimated an incremental debt-service need of about $141,000 in calendar year 2026 and roughly $673,000 in 2027 under the shown cadence.

Board members asked for clarifications about how future debt interacts with state reimbursement and existing call dates; Mays pointed to a known “blip” in district debt service in 2031–2032 and said refinancing opportunities in 2029 could smooth that period. A committee member asked whether the smaller borrowing meant the district would end up borrowing more overall; Mays explained that the total borrowed across the life of the plan can be larger under the phased approach because of shorter investment periods for district cash balances, not because the district must borrow an extra principal amount.

The committee directed staff to place the $10,000,000 recommendation on the October 8 regularly scheduled board agenda and noted that formal debt approval via resolution would return to the board on Nov. 12, with district legal and finance staff working with PFM and the underwriter to finalize parameters. The committee discussed parameter language and the calendar-year treatment of the bank-qualified limit; PFM emphasized that the $10,000,000 bank-qualified status is a calendar-year measure and can be evaluated annually.

Next steps: staff and PFM will prepare a draft resolution and bond parameters for board consideration on Nov. 12. The committee did not adopt a final financing ordinance at the meeting; it provided a recommendation to the full board.