BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte Area School Board of Directors voted unanimously to issue a bond that will generate $17.7 million to complete construction of the district’s new elementary school and fund renovations and improvements at Pleasant Gap Elementary.

The 26-year bond agreement, approved Tuesday night, authorizes the district to issue up to $22 million in general obligation bonds to move both projects forward.

“It depends ultimately how we structure the deal whether it’s a little more than $18 million or a little bit less than $18 million,” said Scott Shearer, managing director of PFM Financial Advisors, LLC. “That’s why we have that flexibility in the parameters resolution.”

Shearer attended Tuesday’s meeting alongside Bond Counsel Anthony Ditka, a partner at Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP, to address any board questions regarding the resolution.

Ken Bean, the district’s director of fiscal affairs, said the funding is essential to keep construction of the new school on track and to address long-overdue maintenance needs at Pleasant Gap Elementary. In 2020, the school’s aging HVAC and electrical systems were identified as “the biggest need in our elementary schools outside of Bellefonte Elementary.”

Of the $17.7 million in principal bond proceeds, approximately $13 million is earmarked for finalizing the design, construction and equipping of the new Bellefonte Elementary School, which is currently under construction.

The remaining $4.3 million will be used to address the needs of Pleasant Gap and support various other capital improvements across the district.

As for the interest rate on the bond, “we’re basically at about the historical average,” according to Shearer. “It is, overall, a good time to be doing the borrowing.”

“Our goal is to price the transaction (Wednesday),” said Shearer, “which means that’s when we will lock in the rates, and then that service schedule will be set in stone for the term of the transaction.”

On Wednesday, the district locked in an arbitrage yield of 4.841 percent.

This is one of several bonds the district has leveraged for the elementary school project, the most recent of which was refinanced last year.

“We’ve done this a couple times now, a couple years in a row,” Shearer said. “This is a well-oiled machine.”