A Kansas City bank was the lowest bidder in the latest round of building bonds to fund the construction of Kingfisher Junior High.

UMB Bank, N.A., was the lowest of four bids presented to the Kingfisher Board of Education on Monday during a special meeting held prior to a regular meeting.

The bid approved by board members was an average rate of 4.552088 percent interest on $3.35 million of building bonds.

The net interest cost at that rate is $386,017.10.

Approving it were Mike Copeland, Charles Walker and Dana Golbek.

Brad Wittrock and Bill Reitz were unable to attend the meeting.

Although higher than interest rate projections when the bond issue was passed nearly six years ago, this year’s bids were below those of two years ago.

Bids, which were due by June 23, were presented by Matt Reichert, vice president of Stephen H. McDonald & Associates, the firm that serves as the financial adviser to the school district.

UMB’s bid was slightly lower than F&M Bank of Edmond, which offered its bid in association with First Bankers’ Banc Securities of St. Louis, Mo.

That bid was an average rate of 4.634126 percent with a net interest cost of $392,973.90.

The awarding of the low bid and subsequent issuance of the general obligation bonds were both handled during the eight-minute meeting.

Other bids came from: • Country Club Bank of Prairie Village, Kan., with an average rate of 5.05 percent and a net interest cost of $428,240; and,

• Legacy Bank of Hinton with an average rate of 5.2 percent and a net interest cost of of $440,960.

Voters passed a $16.75 million bond issue in September 2019 to construct the new building as well as build a new high school parking lot and make renovations to the APB.

The junior high opened in the spring of 2022.

The bond issue is to be paid out over a 10-year period with five equal payments to be made every other year (odd years).

When the bond issue election was called for by the board of education in 2019, Reichert and his firm projected interest rates of about 2 percent.

The initial bonds in 2019 were below that projection as the winning bid had an average rate of 1.570249 with a net interest cost of $132,215.

In 2021, it was even lower as the rate was .65977 with a net interest cost of $55,478.86.

Both of those winning bids were presented by the Kingfisher branch of NBC Oklahoma.

But the number soared in 2023 when Country Club Bank’s bid of 5.769128 percent at a cost of $486,337.50 was the lowest and best bid.