It was entertaining to be at tonight's selectmen meeting and watch the superintendent of schools tell the members of the select board what motions had to be made, who had to sign documents and how the information would flow. I thought this was a town project with contracts between the town and other entities and I always thought it was the selectmen who dealt with this. They are after all, elected and they should not only be aware of these things, but they should be out in front of them. One other item was selectmen Brooks asked for central purchasing to be put on the agenda for the next meeting, which is kind of funny, as I tried to get that moving a couple of years back and she was pretty much silent on the matter. Now maybe we will see how much, if any, this will or can save the taxpayers, which is better late than never at all.

Jeff Bennett

MSBA accepting school building proposals

January 14, 2016

The Massachusetts School Building Authority is now accepting Statements of Interest for consideration in 2016.
 
Submitting an SOI is the critical first step in the MSBA’s program for school building construction, addition/renovation, and repair grants. It allows districts to inform the authority about deficiencies that may exist in a local school facility and how those deficiencies inhibit the delivery of the district’s educational program.
 
The SOI closing date for districts submitting for consideration under the Accelerated Repair Program (ARP), which is primarily for the repair and/or replacement of windows, roofs and/or boilers in an otherwise structurally sound facility, is Feb. 12.
 
The SOI closing date for districts submitting for consideration under the CORE Program, which is primarily for projects beyond the scope of ARP, including extensive repairs, renovations, addition/renovations, and new school construction, is April 8.
 
The MSBA is continuing with the process introduced last year by which districts will be able to assign their own district user access to the MSBA’s SOI System. Superintendents will be asked to complete a District Access Form, which is available on the MSBA’s website.
 
For more information, visit www.massschoolbuildings.org/building/2016_SOIs or call Diane Sullivan at (617) 720-4466.

Gov. Baker announces 4.3% increase in main local aid account

January 22, 2016

Warmly received by 900 local officials from across Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker announced at the MMA Annual Meeting this morning that cities and towns would receive a 4.3 percent increase in discretionary local aid under the fiscal 2017 state budget bill that he plans to file next week.
 
Chapter 70 education aid would increase at a much lower rate of 1.6 percent.
 
Unrestricted General Government Aid would increase by $42.1 million over the current year, to $1.02 billion, fulfilling the governor’s promise to increase the account at the same rate as the growth in state revenues.
 
Chapter 70 would increase by $72.1 million, to $4.58 billion.
 
The modest increase in Chapter 70 fulfills the state’s commitment under the current formula, but does not begin to implement the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission, which concluded its work last fall. The MMA will be advocating for the commission’s recommendations, which recognize the inadequacy of the current formula, particularly with regard to special education and school personnel costs.
 
The administration distributed a printout with the Chapter 70 and UGGA numbers for each city, town and regional school district, but it was not clear what the budget would provide for Chapter 70 per pupil minimum aid.
 
The governor also said his administration would soon file a bill to provide $200 million in fiscal 2017 for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge program. He added that his administration will soon file an economic development bill including a reauthorization and $10 million expansion of the MassWorks program, boosting funding for the multi-faceted program to $85 million.
 
The governor said his budget will include funding for state and local police to expand efforts to address drug trafficking in medium-sized cities.
 
The governor spent half of his 20-minute speech on his “municipal modernization” bill, urging local officials to show their support for the package on Beacon Hill.
 
“We think you have done a lot of important work to help us craft a bill that can make life far better, less complicated, more effective and more efficient,” he said. “Now we need to make the sale to the folks in the Legislature so they can see the value and power and importance of this.”
 
“The whole idea here was to update a lot of obsolete laws and statutes and regulations that are currently in place and to basically accept the fact that it’s 2016 now, not 1916. And many of the laws and the rules that have been on the books for anywhere from 30 to 40 to 50 to 100 years probably ought to get reconsidered at this point in time.”

The ship has sailed; ready for high winds and heavy seas.

No that it has already been reported work will begin this summer on the new school and the money for this will most likely come from a BAN or bond anticipation note, other words, short term borrowing in one year periods and yes, this costs money thru interest rates and this is the method used until probably 2019 when the long term bond (s) will be issued to pay for this 47 million dollar project. No one can say for certain, but there is a high probability Templeton will have a bond rating by then. What will it be will remain a mystery, though it is likely a good bet it will be a low one such as A or A1 and that will be that. I  think if you look at the laws, the town has a legal right and authority to borrow money to build a school. They certainly have a town meeting vote and a ballot vote to back it up.

Jeff Bennett

TO: Athol Board of Selectmen FR: Shaun A. Suhoski, Town Manager RE: Town Manager Report DT: December 15, 2015 Dear Board: Please see the following update for your meeting tonight. School and DIF Bonding: Attached please find estimated 20- and 25-year amortization schedules for the $7.0 million elementary school debt-excluded bond and a 20-year schedule for the $1.9 million (after $1M MassWorks grant) DIF financed water line and booster station expansion projects. These will be bid to retire temporary notes in March 2016. Based upon all available information, it appears that a standard 20-year term for both the school building project, and water infrastructure project, will be the most manageable in terms of tax rate impact (estimated increase of $1.30 per thousand), annual debt service payments and a savings of $929,600 in estimated additional interest costs over a 25-year term for the school. 

Not sure if this was looked at in Templeton, but apparently it was in Athol and that is the projected savings, so it appears that a 28 year bond for Templeton new school will cost the taxpayers an extra million or so dollars.

According to records for Athol, back in 2013, they planned to apply for a loan at 4.50% interest for a principal amount of $16,279,743.00 (total project estimate of $43,931,363.00, with a reimbursement rate of 62.94% from MSBA.) Annual payments total $1,085,857.19 with a total pay back amount of $27,146,429.68.

Athol tax rate back in 2013 was $15.48 and for 2016 it is $19.83 so you can now look at two close towns who both have school bonds coming due and you can see the rise in the tax rate which is more than the per thousand rate each town projected to cover the debt exclusion.

Jeff Bennett