SHARON Business manager is told to get bids

Delaying the process could result in less savings, the district's business manager warned.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The city school board president wants to see bids from bond underwriters before the board votes on a plan that could save some $400,000 by refinancing two old loans.
James Wolf, district business manager, recommended at Wednesday's board work session that Sharon use the company RBC Dane Rauscher of Pittsburgh as the underwriter for the refinancing, the same company that did a refinancing for the district before.
The company already has the background on the district's finances and can move quickly to secure lower interest rates that could save the city $418,000 in interest costs on a new $9,250,000 loan to replace 1998 and 1999 loans, he said.
The board should act immediately as the bond market interest rates are beginning to climb, Wolf said. Had the district done the refinancing just two weeks ago, the savings would have been about $485,000, he said.
However, Mel Bandzak, board president, was critical of Wolf for not seeking other bids on the refinancing.
He said the last time Sharon refinanced old debt, it used Dane Rauscher but had a late proposal from another company that would have done it for less.
The district paid about $12,000 more than it had to, Bandzak said, telling Wolf to get two other bids for the latest refinancing.
Wolf disputed Bandzak's contention that the late offer on the earlier refinancing was a better deal. The underwriter's cost might have been lower but the long-term cost to the district would have been higher because the company couldn't provide the same low interest rate that Dane Rauscher secured, he said.
The district did an extensive search for a bond underwriter before and came up with Dane Rauscher as the top company and it makes sense to stay with the company now, he said.
Asking other companies for bids will delay the process by a month which could mean less interest savings, Wolf warned.
Bandzak said Wolf should have put the refinancing out for bids when it was first considered, before he brought the proposal to the board.
He insisted that Wolf get at least two more bids to be sure Sharon is getting the best deal.
"Prove me wrong," he told Wolf.
Personnel moves
In other business, the board held a special meeting in which it named high school Academic Principal Sheila Schneider to the vacant post of West Hill Elementary School principal, replacing Fred Hoffman who retired.
It's a lateral move with no increase in salary.
The board also voted to hire Patrick Hepinger, principal of North East High School in Erie County, to take over Schneider's post, now referred to as "principal assisting-academics," at the high school. His salary hasn't been determined yet.