Debt Service Leads At Board of Finance

By Susan MacEachron

At the Board of Finance (BoF) meeting on April 11, First Selectman Matt Riiska reported that the proposed $7.7 million budget for fiscal year 2023/24 includes funds to cover debt service to pay for a new roof on Botelle School and the reconstruction of Maple Avenue. Riiska asked the BoF to approve a resolution for each project. 

Riiska noted that the Botelle roof is over 30 years old and needs to be replaced. The town has received three bids; the lowest is $1.9 million. Riiska said he hopes the project can be completed for closer to $1.8 million. The plan calls for a standing seam roof that could hold solar panels.

Riiska explained that before the reconstruction of Maple Avenue can begin, remediation at the intersection of Pettibone Lane and Maple Avenue from the gas spill must be completed. This will require significant excavation and Riiska isn’t sure when the road project will commence. However, he requested that the BoF approve a resolution to finance the project. The estimated cost is $2.5 million; with a $500,000 grant from the Small Town Economic Assistance Program, Norfolk will need to borrow approximately $2 million. 

Riiska was advised by a bond counsel to consider a 30-year bond or bank loan for each of these large projects. The proposed town budget assumes an interest rate of 4.5 percent and will add annual debt service of $111,000 and $124,000 for the school roof and Maple Avenue, respectively. The addition of these two major capital items, along with outstanding debt on the two bridge projects and the remaining debt on the ambulance building means the town budget includes just over $500,000 of debt service. This is an increase over the current year of $159,396. The town paid off some outstanding debt to provide capacity for the new loans.

The budget also includes borrowing to pay Frontier $467,000 to bring fiber optic wires to every house in Norfolk. Frontier will incur the cost to wire some 75 percent of the town that it considers worthwhile from a business perspective. It is requiring Norfolk to pay to connect the remaining properties. Riiska says that other towns in the Northwest Corner have faced the same issue with Frontier. 

Education expense accounts for over half of the town budget, including Botelle, the larger component, and Northwest Regional 7. The expenses dominating the remainder of the budget are the equipment, buildings, supplies and personnel required to keep roads well maintained and open in winter and the transfer station. The $1.8 million allocated to the Public Works Department is 43 percent of the budget’s general government portion. 

The budget as proposed results in a mill rate slightly below the current year’s. Michael Sconyers, BoF chair, complimented Riiska and the Board of Selectmen on this achievement. 

Town residents, including all property taxpayers, will have an opportunity to vote on the budget and on the specific debt resolutions at the town meeting on May 8.