Robert Jordan Author

Taxpayers on hook for millions in Pleasanton school bond refinancing

PLEASANTON -- A refinancing practice that the California attorney general said violated state law will cost Pleasanton taxpayers an additional $9.28 million on school construction bonds, according to a consultant's analysis.

Government Financial Strategies was hired by the Pleasanton school district after concerns expressed by trustees and residents about the district's bond refinancing. The Sacramento-based company has spent the past two Mondays revealing its findings to a citizens committee and was to present them to the school board Tuesday.

Pleasanton was one of several districts in the state to participate in cash-out refinancing, in which districts refinanced voter-approved construction bonds at a lower rate and at the same time took out cash as part of the deal. Pleasanton has issued $154.8 million in bonds since 1988 and has refinanced those bonds 12 times. Six of those transactions have involved taking cash out, beginning in 2003. The cash amount totaled $6.8 million, with an additional $2.4 million in interest.

The findings come on the heels of the district cutting more than $20 million from its $110 million budget over the past three years and its unsuccessful attempt at two parcel taxes.

"There was no evidence that they were trying to skirt the law," said Lori Raineri, president of Government Financial Strategies, who is the co-author of a 2007 memo that warned about cash-out refinancing violating state law. "The main focus of the school district administration was to get resources for kids."

The district last refinanced its bonds in December 2009 and did so without cash out. Then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, now governor, ruled in January 2009 that cash-out refinancing violated state law because adding to the additional debt required voter approval.

The citizens committee has asked Government Financial Strategies to track how the refinanced cash was spent. Refinancing will cut about two years off the bond repayment schedule, according to the district, resulting in savings of about $9.87 million over the life of the loan.

However, had the district just refinanced the bonds without the cash out, it would have saved taxpayers $19.1 million.

"It is troubling that they don't know where the money went," said Anne Fox, one of seven members on the citizens committee. "Did they spend the money on new projects? We don't know the answer to that. Given that taxpayers are on the hook for extra dollars, we would like to know where the money went.

Wheel Of Time Author Robert Jordan Dies

Sad news from the world of fantasy literature. Robert Jordan, known best as the author of the “Wheel of Time” series of books, died on the afternoon of Sunday September 16th after more than a year battling cardiac amyloidosis. The news comes from a message left on the author’s blog .

The site says, "It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain." Funeral arrangements will be posted later on the blog, and for fans interesting in sending his family their best wishes, the comments section on Jordan’s there seems to be the place to do it.

Robert Jordan was a prominent voice in modern fantasy literature. The author’s massive Wheel of Time series has long been a top seller, and with his death he leaves the series’ twelfth book unfinished and his story painfully incomplete. It was the twelfth book which was supposed to end the series, finally finishing the story of Rand al’ Thor and his friends, a finale in the making since the publishing of the first WoT book “The Eye of the World” back in 1990.

As someone who’s read all eleven books, this hurts. Not just because now we’ll never know how 17 years worth of character development ends, but because Jordan seemed like a genuinely good person who loved what he was doing and loved his fans. Right now my thoughts are with his family and friends, but from now on whenever I look at his spot on my bookshelf it’ll always be to selfishly wonder what might have been.

New Spring, The Novel

The Gathering Storm

The fires of heaven

The path of daggers

The Dragon Reborn