North Stonington Board of Finance
Special Meeting Minutes
of
Monday, April 7, 2014
New Town Hall
North Stonington, CT
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- Call to Order: Chairman Dan Spring called the meeting to order at 7:34 PM. Brent Woodward, Charlie Steinhart, Tim Main and Emile Pavolvics were present. Mustapha Ratib was absent.
- Public Comments and Questions: Public comments and questions were made after the presentation by Chairman Dan Spring noted below in paragraph three. The common theme among the six to eight commenters was to move the resolution to the people after full disclosure of the financial impacts.
- BOE: School Building Project Proposal; Resolution:
The BOS, in a recent meeting, had approved a resolution to fund the Wheeler Middle/High School and Elementary School renovations at an estimated cost of $46.99M. After reimbursement by the state, the obligation to the Town could run from $26.32M to $31.25M.
Similar approval action by the BOF is required to bring the school project to a Town meeting and subsequent referendum.
Dan Spring provided an overview of the financial condition of the Town and the impacts to the taxpayer should the school project be approved. Key points of discussion are as follows:
- Moody’s bond rating of the Town is A1 making the Town a low credit risk.
- It would be advantageous at this time for the Town to borrow relatively low interest rate money.
- The combination of borrowing $31.25M for the school project and $6.36M for the EMS/ Firehouse project would exceed the safe debt to grand list ratio of four percent. Based on a grand list of $524M, which has seen no appreciable growth, the ratio would be in excess of seven percent.
Action on the resolution was deferred to the next scheduled meeting allowing Superintendent of Schools Peter Nero to contact the State Department of Education for clarification of how the resolution should be worded regarding the amount.
4. Adjournment: A motion was made by Dan Spring to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Charlie Steinhart and passed 5-0-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
\ BBW \
Brent B. Woodward
Acting Secretary, Board of Finance
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