XENIA — Bonds for the 1.03 mill construction project of a new Greene County Career Center were offered for sale Jan. 31 and, according to school officials, the outcome is promising.

“We anticipate that the way the market responded to the bond sale, the district and county taxpayers could see a savings upwards of $400,000 in collection of fees over the life of the bond,” said GCCC Superintendent David Deskins. “We were able to communicate the value of our project combined with our region’s reputation for economic growth and vitality. When all of that was paired with a unique bond offering we saw had a stellar response by investors when our bonds were offered for sale. We were hopeful that the market would help us save as much as $50,000 to $75,000 for our voters, so the results of the sale far surpassed what we expected.”

School construction bonds passed in November 2018 are offered to corporate and individual investors via online markets. The somewhat complicated system can be affected by a variety of factors including economic growth regionally and nationally, the stock market, other similar bond offerings, and the construction project’s viability and sustainability.

“The investor interest was so strong on our project that the majority of the offerings were satisfied within twenty minutes of opening the bidding,” he added. “It was an extraordinary day as we watched it unfold.”

The center’s Board of Education played an active role advocating this project since it was first discussed four years ago.

“We are so excited for the future of the students and adults in Greene County with the new construction now underway at the State Route 35 and State Route 68 interchange,” said Board President Mary Frantz. “The board members are so pleased with the hard work by our leadership team and our bond planning partners. There was a great deal of intention and focus to set GCCC up for the best possible opportunity in the national bond market and a savings of more than $400,000 to our voters is just one additional way for us to thank them for their support last November.”

The bond sale is scheduled to close Thursday, Feb. 14 and the district has already begun construction at their new location. The new facility, which will expand existing programming into areas like automation and robotics, drone technologies and cybersecurity, is on schedule to open in August 2020.