The RISD Bond Steering Committee met again on April 28 to continue learning about RISD’s capital projects and equipment needs, eventually leading up to recommendations to the RISD Board of Trustees about a possible bond election in November of 2025.
At the April 28 meeting, committee members heard a presentation from Jeff Roberts of Hilltop Securities about RISD’s current bond capacity under the existing $0.35 debt service portion of RISD’s property tax rate:
- RISD could issue up to $1 billion in bonds in a potential 2025 package under the district’s current debt service tax rate of $0.35 and no tax rate increase.
- RISD could issue up to $1.2 billion in bonds with a debt service tax rate increase of $0.02, which would equate to a tax increase of $67/year ($5.58/month) for the average market value home in RISD.
- RISD could issue up to $1.4 billion in bonds with a debt service tax rate increase of $0.04, which would equate to a tax increase of $134/year ($11.17/month) for the average market value home in RISD.
- The average market value of a home in RISD is $498,241.
The current total of requested bond items across RISD departments is $1.32 billion. Committee members are evaluating the requests to ultimately determine a potential Bond 2025 package recommendation to RISD trustees later in May. Trustees would then evaluate the recommendation and decide if a bond election would be placed before RISD voters in November.
For more information about items requested by RISD departments, see the April 14 meeting summary.
See the April 28 meeting presentation.
Learn more about the community bond steering committee.
The committee hopes to arrive at recommendations for RISD Trustees to consider in May.
