2009-11-12-CPC-min (730PM) - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

c.)Bonding - The topic of bonding was raised, with Mr. Kanter stating that he was not sure if Mr. Valente’s suggestion of 70% retirement in the first 10 years of bond payments was aggressive enough. He offered 10 years as the total bond length, stating that he would be hesitant to lock the Town in for any longer periods of time. He noted that if the CPA were ever repealed, there would have to be enough left to pay off the bond. (The Town can also assume this debt if the CPA were not able to pay it through remaining account balances.) Mr. Cohen pointed out that a long term bond might be appropriate for land acquisitions, since such purchases benefit future generations. Mr. Eurich noted that bonding gives the impression that the CPA has more funds that it actually does, and that there can be a downside to this approach. He said his preference would be only to bond for short terms. Mr. Levine agreed with this, saying that a 5-10 year timeframe would be acceptable, especially with 10 million dollars in the fund. Mr. Burnell echoed this conservative approach, but went further to state that he would not recommend bonding until “he was broke”. He felt there were costs associated with bonding, and that it was unwise until absolutely needed. Revisiting this point later, he agreed that a minimum balance was necessary, and that his comments about bonding did not mean the CPC should exhaust their entire balance. Mr. Lamb raised the issue of bonding every purchase over $1,000,000 as suggested by Mr. Valente. He said it seemed to be the sense of the meeting that bonding should be undertaken very conservatively, and voiced his opposition to this policy suggestion. Mr. Kelley brought up the point of political integrity, noting that he felt the CPC should be cautious in approving projects in general. He felt there was a downside to having taxpayers feel that the CPC approves all projects, and that it was willing to incur debt to so. He reiterated the sentiment expressed by Mr. Burnell that projects should be paid in cash, and added his opinion that private projects should not be approved under any circumstances. Ms. Garber summarized the lengthy discussion on bonding stating bonding should be used only when absolutely necessary and only for short terms. d.)Maximum Balance - Mr. Lamb noted that there had been no discussion of a maximum balance for the CPC accounts. He stated that the Town would never pass an override if the CPC held $10 million in cash at all times. There was no further discussion of this specific topic. e.)Next Step – Mr. Lamb asked the CPC what their next step would be. Ms. Weiss responded that the CPC would meet and discuss the policy 3