The Macon County R-I School District board is set to vote at 4 p.m. Tuesday on short-term borrowing against taxes the district has not yet collected.
The special session is in the district's boardroom at 902 N. Missouri St., according to the agenda. Its only business item is a resolution for the sale and issuance of incidental fund tax anticipation notes, Series 2026, with L.J. Hart & Company.
The agenda does not list the amount, interest rate, repayment date, or buyer of the notes. No resolution is attached to the agenda posted on the district's website.
Superintendent Bryan Thomsen was asked by email Tuesday morning about the amount, terms, and purpose of the notes. Chariton Media Group did not receive a response in time for publication.
Under Missouri law, a school board may borrow for a district fund by a majority vote of its members and repay the notes from school taxes or other school revenue within 12 months, according to Section 165.131 of the state statutes. The notes issued for a fund in a year cannot exceed the board's estimate of what that fund needs for the year, and the money may be spent only on that fund's expenses for the year or on repaying the notes. Interest is capped at 10% a year, or 14% if the notes are sold at public sale, according to Section 108.170.
The incidental fund pays for the district's general activities, according to the district's audit for the year ended June 30, 2023, the most recent audit posted on its website. Property taxes are levied Nov. 1 and payable by Dec. 31, and the county collects them and sends the money to the district, the audit states.
The district began the fiscal year July 1 with about $2.3 million less across its funds than a year earlier, $1,418,816 compared with $3,713,632, according to the July month-end financial report attached to the board's Aug. 18 agenda.
By Aug. 31, the combined balance was $1,253,765, compared with $3,166,932 a year earlier, according to the district's August month-end financial report, attached to the Sept. 16 agenda. The general, or incidental, fund held $900,694 after $440,511 in August spending. The August month-end report lists the capital projects fund at negative $425,709.
The district's 2026-27 tax rate hearing notice proposed an incidental fund rate of $2.9917 per $100 of assessed valuation, up from $2.9159 last year, and budgeted $4,737,490 in incidental fund property tax revenue. The board unanimously approved the 2026-27 tax rate as presented Aug. 18, according to the minutes of that meeting.
On June 30, the board unanimously approved the 2026-27 budget "as presented, reflecting a surplus of $69,270.37," according to the minutes.
L.J. Hart & Company, a subsidiary of Commerce Bank, finances Missouri schools, counties, and cities, according to the firm's website. Its list of completed financings through Jan. 21 shows lease certificates of participation involving the district in 2009, 2014, 2018, 2019, and 2021 and a general obligation refunding bond issue in 1993, but no tax anticipation notes.
If the board approves the notes, each must be registered with the county treasurer before delivery, according to Section 165.141. The treasurer's registry shows each note's amount and interest rate.