HAMDEN — The town has obtained low interest rates on bonds it has sold for various projects.
Acting Finance Director Jennifer Charneski said the town received a 0.60 percent interest rate on a $30 million one-year note, a 3.72 percent rate on a $12.2 million tax-exempt bond issue, and a 5.09 percent rate on a $4 million taxable bond.
“We were really pleased. It’s a sign people are confident with our rating,” Charneski said.
About $20 million of the $30 million note will provide cash flow for the first year of the Memorial Town Hall renovation project. The project also includes a police station addition and the refurbishment of Station 4, the fire house which adjoins the town hall at Whitney and Dixwell avenues. The rest of the notes will cover other approved capital projects, she said.
The tax-exempt bond issue includes $2.2 million in pre-construction expenditures for the town hall project and other capital projects, Charneski said.
The taxable bond of $4 million covers a portion of the purchase of the 11-acre Dadio Farm. Investors are paying the taxable rate had to be applied because the town sold three of the four lots at the Putnam Avenue site to private concerns for the expansion of the adjoining industrial park.
The fourth lot was being reserved for a town fire headquarters.
The bonds and notes were competitively sold last week at Webster Bank in Hartford, under the direction of town financial adviser Barry Bernabe and attorney David Panico of Robinson & Cole, the town’s bond counsel.
Mayor Craig B. Henrici said the good news about the bond sale supplements other financial good news the town has received in recent weeks.
Two New York rating agencies, FitchRatings and Standard & Poors, have given the town bond ratings of A+.
“We’re very proud to be upgraded in the worst economy in 80 years,” Henrici said.
With respect to the town hall renovation, town officials estimate there will be a $1 million savings on financing over 20 years because of the low interest rates the town will be able to attain as a result of its improved bond rating. They estimated more will be saved on the other projects because of the low interest rates.
The town had to obtain new bond ratings because of the bond and note sales for the town hall and other projects.
Economic and Community Development Director Dale Kroop said the rating agencies were interested in brownfields that were being converted to housing and about projects that would result in more tax revenue for the town, such as the expansion of Quinnipiac University and Whitney Center.
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