The $44 million approved in a bond initiative approved by voters in May is in the bank for the Lowndes County School District.

The bonds were sold Tuesday to Raymond James and Associates. They are to be paid back over 17 years at an interest rate of 3.04 percent.

LCSD attorney Jeff Smith told The Dispatch it is the lowest interest rate he has ever seen on a general obligation bond.

He said the bonds were validated at the Lowndes County Chancery Clerk’s Office on September 2 and officially bought Tuesday. The $44 million also came with a $2.2 million premium from Raymond James. When bond attorney Jim Young presented the bids to LCSD trustees in August, the premium was $1.7 million.

By law, the district has 36 months to spend or designate all the money.

Smith said the first payment on the bond will be a total of $1.3 million, with a principal of $440,000. He said that for the first two years of payments, the district will use some of the bond money itself to pay off the interest.

Three years from now, several fee-in-lieu tax agreements are rolling off industries in Lowndes County, which will give the district a significant increase in tax revenue, according to Lowndes County tax assessor Greg Andrews.

Smith said the added money will allow the district to comfortably pay off the bond after the first two years.

The $44 million is alloted as $11 million for a centralized career-technical center; $26 million for a new high school on the New Hope campus; $3 million for upgrades and additions at the Caledonia campus; $1.9 million for a new field house at Caledonia; and $2 million for renovations on the West Lowndes campus.

The majority of the money will be spent in 2017, when construction of New Hope High School will begin in earnest, according to board architect Joey Henderson of JBHM.

“The first money we would spend would be on purchasing property,” Smith said.

That property will be for the $11 million career-technical center, which was a selling point for the bond. The district has yet to pick a site for the career-technical center. Smith said the board will likely call a special session next week.

For their work on the bond issue, attorney’s Smith and Young will each receive a .75 percent commission, amounting to $330,000 for each, according to Smith.

Henderson and JBHM will be able to take a maximum of 6 percent commission on each individual project as it is bid out, Smith said. He noted that once projects are completed inspectors are required to examine the buildings. Those inspectors can take a maximum commission of 5 percent of each total project cost.