The Tea Area School Board gave staff authority to write the closing check for the approved land purchase for up to $250,000 and authorized staff to pursue proposed refunding of certain capital outlay certificates and general obligation bonds to realize debt-service savings.

Business manager (Speaker 4) told the board the immediate closing-cost estimate is about $214,005 and asked for authority to write the check if a closing occurs before the next meeting. ‘‘Like, I just say up to 250,000. It won't go over that,’’ Speaker 4 said, and the board approved the motion by voice vote.

Speaker 4 also presented two refunding proposals from financial advisor Tom Grama: one combining the district’s 2014, 2015 and 2018 capital outlay certificates (estimated savings $432,318.75 over the remaining life to 2039), and a second combining 2015 and 2019 general obligation bonds (estimated savings $229,930). He said those totals include issuance fees and advisor costs, yielding a combined projected net savings of approximately $662,248. The board approved authority to pursue the refundings and understood a formal resolution will follow when financing documents are finalized.

Board members asked whether fees were included in the savings estimate; Speaker 4 confirmed fees and issuance costs were included. No roll-call or individual vote totals were recorded in the transcript; actions were approved by voice vote.

Next steps: the district’s financial team will finalize refunding documents and bring a resolution back to the board for formal approval once sale terms are fixed.