Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, in the case of any school building project for which the total cost is less than one million dollars, the state shall not require permanent local financing prior to the payment of a grant for a school building project under this chapter. In any such case, the school district may pay off its debt on any such project over a period not to exceed four years if the school district promptly applies all project grant payments toward project costs or toward payment of temporary notes as the same become due and payable and provides for the payment of such notes in equal annual installments commencing no later than one year from the date of issue.