The Blue Ridge Board of Education has received some good news in the areas of the bonds they are looking to issue for their Mansfield facility.

The district has been planning on an interest rate of just over 5-percent. Superintendent of the Blue Ridge District Susan Wilson explains they have recently received word the bond rates have dropped by whole percentage points, which is quite significant. She says this will save tax payers quite a bit of money and will not be as much of a tax increase as they originally were planning on.

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Bond rates have been steadily dropping, however, Wilson notes they did not want to get voters hopes up so the Board of Education will be estimating a little bit higher of a bond rate. She adds they will also have an estimator for voters to estimate the tax increase for themselves in literature they will be distributing to the public.

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The district has been holding on to estimates from over five years ago for their Health Life Safety update estimates. Wilson notes if the referendum does not pass the Blue Ridge District will need to issue approximately $2-million in Health Life Safety bonds, the Mansfield facility update projected cost is about $4-million.

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The Blue Ridge district will be holding a series of tours in the coming weeks at Mansfield Elementary. The tours started last night, but there are two more scheduled for March 7 and March 15 from 3-6 pm. Wilson hopes to have video tours up online as well in the near future. She wants those in the district to see the Mansfield facility and the issues they currently face there. The architects will also be a part of the tours and will have designs on hand for the proposed addition.