SALISBURY — The Rowan County Board of Commissioners approved issuing bonds on Monday worth a total of $73 million to fund the Knox Middle School replacement construction and other school projects throughout the county.

The bonds will be issued as limited obligation bonds, which means that they can be approved by the county government instead of through a public referendum like unlimited general obligation bonds. Limited obligation bonds also must be paid through pre-existing general fund revenues while unlimited obligation bonds could be paid through raising tax rates.

The projects that will be funded by the bonds are the construction of the school that is replacing Knox Middle School, the county’s portion of an expansion to Fred L. Wilson Elementary School in Kannapolis and roof replacements for various schools throughout the county. Anna Bumgarner, the county’s finance director, broke down the costs some, saying that $55 million of the funding would be going towards the Knox replacement.

Rowan-Salisbury School System Superintendent Kelly Withers also appeared at the meeting to answer any questions from the commissioners and to expand upon what exactly the Knox project will entail.

The replacement school will serve students from third to eighth grade, while Overton Elementary School will retain the current kindergarten through second grade programs. Withers said that the school system also plans to use the additional space in the elementary school to add a pre-kindergarten program that services that area of the county. She said that by the time the Knox replacement school opens, Overton should be able to support between 10 and 12 pre-K classes.

“We have quite a few different pre-K options. We have Title One pre-K, we have (exceptional children) pre-K, we have North Carolina pre-K and each program has different qualifications with how to access that program. We haven’t made any definitive decisions on how many of each kind we would have. We have to assess the need,” said Withers.

Withers stated that the replacement school is expected to open in fall of 2026.

The bonds that are being issued will mature over 20 years, and Amy Vitner, with the county’s financial advisor First Tryon, estimated that the interest rates would likely be 3.75 percent.

Commissioner Mike Caskey asked Vitner about how the incoming funds from issuing the bonds would be added to the county’s fund sources, asking if the $73 million would come in all at once.

“You would issue it all at once, but you could be investing that money. You don’t spend it all on day one, it takes 18 months to 24 months to build a project. So that money would be invested over that period of time, so we would work with (Bumgarner) and her team to make some recommendations on where that money gets invested. Usually it’s with the Capital Management Trust or some other bond-fund specific to cities and counties. Right now, you would be able to earn more than the cost of your debt. Even though you’re borrowing a little bit earlier than you need the money, you should be able to invest that money at a rate at least as high as your borrowing costs,” said Vitner.

After the discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to pass a resolution authorizing county staff to file the application for issuing the bonds with the North Carolina Local Government Commission. According to the N.C. General Statutes, the LGC must approve of the county issuing the bonds.

The commissioners also unanimously approved signing contracts with Trust Securities as the senior underwriter and Hilltop Securities as the co-managing underwriter for the bond sales. Vitner explained that underwriters facilitate the sales of the bonds and also ensure the county’s revenue by offering to purchase the bonds if enough buyers are not found for some reason.