Electors also support authority to issue bonds
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Town of Delavan held a public meeting at which residents approved construction of a new main fire station on land adjacent to the current station for approximately $5 million. Residents also approved giving the town the authority to issue 20-year refunding bonds to refinance existing debt and a stat trust fund loan.
The town will apply for a state trust fund loan for the $5 million it needs to finance the fire station construction and then refinance that with the refunding bond. Administrator John Olson said that is because the town can get the 20-year loan now at an interest rate of 4.5 percent and refinance it at a rate of 3.2 percent later.
The 20-year refunding bonds will cover the cost of the fire station and another $5 in existing debt for a total of approximately $10 million. The town board will vote on approving the refunding bonds at its June meeting.
In June, the board will also consider a 10-year promissory note for another $5.6 million for various capital projects. The approval of the refunding bonds and the promissory note in June will raise the town’s debt from $5 million to just over $15 million.
The $5 million price tag for the new fire station is more than the $4 million residents approved in an advisory referendum in November. Olson said that referendum was an advisory referendum, not a binding one.
Read more from that meeting along with school board and city council coverage in the May 30 Delavan Enterprise.
