Selma residents who voted for Measure A will get what they were promised.

Two weeks ago, the district obtained an A minus credit rating from Standard & Poor's, which was translated into an interest rate of 4.34 percent on the bond. This means that Selma residents won't pay more than an average of $52 per $100,000 of assessed evaluation on their property tax bill.

"It will probably be less than $52," said Larry Teixeira, superintendent for the district.

The bond is scheduled to be paid off over 25 years, although if property revenue increases, the district may either choose to pay it off sooner or reduce the tax. This bond issue will pay for the projects at Selma High and Eric White Elementary, which include new classrooms and restrooms for both schools and a new cafeteria, girls' locker room and practice field lights for Selma High.

Voters are still paying off a bond measure that was passed in 1990, so this year they will see two lines on their tax bill for Selma Unified School District. That bond was to pay for Abraham Lincoln Middle School. The district has still has to pay back $5 million of it, not including interest.

The district's first bond payment for Measure A will be due this August. They will pay $280,000 for the first interest-only payment, and for several years after that it will be about $650,000 a year.

On Jan. 22, last Monday, $11.5 million of the bond was sold at the 4.3 percent interest rate. This will take care of the projects on the high-priority list planned for Selma High School and Eric White Elementary School.

The next step will be for the district to list bids for construction for the first few weeks of February.

Another bond issue will probably have to be done when it's time to do the other high-priority projects. Teixeira doesn't know when the next bond issue will be.

"A big factor there is how quickly we build the current project . . . and how quickly our design team gets done with our next round of projects."

The next items on the priority list are to remodel the cafeteria and one classroom at Indianola Elementary School, create new shops for transportation and a new warehouse for the Central Operations Facility, and add eight new classrooms and restrooms for Lincoln Middle School. The district may add, reorder or remove items from the list.

By Bettina Adragna

badragna@selmaenterprise.com