Refinancing old debt and taking on a new loan

At the selectmen’s meeting on October 4, First Selectman Sue Dyer announced plans to call a town meeting in November. Resolutions will be presented to refinance the town’s existing debt and to borrow additional money to purchase trucks.

The town is carrying somewhat less than $1.55 million in debt for the replacement of the windows at Botelle School and for the construction of the new ambulance building on Shepard Road. Residents will vote on whether to refinance the loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition, Dyer proposes that the town take on $650,000 in new debt to buy the Public Works Department two plow trucks and the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department a new pumper truck.

“Right now we don’t have enough trucks to plow our roads,” says Dyer, who explains that the town will rent a truck and driver this winter for $160 an hour to cover the shortfall.

The town proposes to buy the cab and chassis for two new plow trucks at a cost of $292,000 and give them the bodies of two old trucks that have recently been taken out of service. Dyer estimates that the cost of a fully equipped plow truck would be about $200,000.

The remainder of the new loan, or approximately $350,000, will go toward a new pumper for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. One of the pumper trucks the fire department now relies on is more than 30 years old.

The town meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 at Botelle School’s Hall of Flags. A text of the resolutions to be presented can be viewed on the Town of Norfolk website, or by clicking here.