Trustee Guerrero questioned expense
When the Village Board meets on Tuesday, Feb. 22 (at 7 p.m. at Village Hall) one of the items on the agenda will be a leftover matter from the board’s February 7 meeting.
On the agenda that night was a resolution to refinance a bond at a lower interest rate. The bond was initially $3 million, issued in 2002 and also refinanced in 2012.
When the matter came up, Trustee Melanie Guerrero said she had looked into the matter — which bond counsel Noah Nadelson from Munistat had recommended — and found that it would cost “$70-75,000, which is more than what we would save,” she said.
“I was appalled by that,” Geurrero said, adding the savings on the refinance would be about $33,000. “That is complete misuse of taxpayer funds; why are we doing this?”
At the time, the rest of the board appeared shocked by her comments, and the matter was immediately tabled by Mayor Joe D’Onofrio for further investigation.
This week, D’Onofrio said Geurrero’s comments were “completely inaccurate”.
He said he and Village Clerk Gina Taylor spoke with Nadelson the morning after the meeting. The figures he received from the firm were that it would cost less than $30,000 to refinance, with a “$67-70,000 savings”.
He did say that the “very conservative early estimates” on the refinance were a $33,000 savings, as Guerrero said.
“But, we confirmed again this week that the savings to the village is well more than we will spend,” the mayor said. “Of course we wouldn’t spend more than we expected to save.” He explained that the fees associated with refinancing are the cost of bond counsel, a municipal advisor, a verification agent and escrow.
D’Onofrio said the matter “will come up again next week” and added that he expects the two week delay in completing the refinancing will cost the village some of the savings “because interest rates are going up”.
