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07/17/2018 12:00 AMCiting the town’s A+ credit rating and healthy rainy day fund surplus, Republican Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. has proposed a $3.3 million capital and infrastructure program for the 2018-’19 budget year, which, following a unanimous vote of approval from the Democratic-controlled Board of Finance, will head to the Republican-controlled Town Council for consideration at its July and August meetings.
Maturo explained, “Thanks to this administration’s efforts since 2011 to curb wasteful spending, reduce debt, and rebuild our rainy day fund, we’ve rebuilt our credit rating from BBB+ to A+ and are now able to borrow money for infrastructure improvements at far more advantageous rates than we could seven years ago. As a result, I have proposed a $3.3 million capital program for the upcoming budget year.”
According to Maturo, the 2018-’19 capital program includes generous funding for more than 30 large and small-scale projects across town including road paving ($600,000), new police vehicles ($255,000), and public works and engineering initiatives ($170,000). The program also includes funding for critical improvements at the Fire Department, including a new paramedic rescue vehicle ($120,000) and upgrades to the town’s emergency radio and dispatching equipment ($800,000). Some of the smaller-scale, but equally important, initiatives include funding for a new senior bus ($80,000), a new bingo machine for the senior center ($15,000), and renovations of the town’s building and zoning departments ($15,000).
Maturo continued, “My proposed $3.3 million capital program is the most expansive and aggressive capital program since 2011. Despite its size, with scheduled debt payments in the upcoming fiscal year, our long term debt will stand at somewhere close to $21.52 million, which represents a reduction of 55 percent from the staggering $48.10 million in debt the town maintained just seven years ago.”
Town records indicate that capital programs between 2012 and 2015 ranged from $794,000 to $1.57 million. Following the town’s historic, two-tier credit rating upgrade in 2016 from A- to A+, Maturo called for more extensive capital programs of $2.45 million (2016-’17) and $2.52 million (2017-’18). The mayor’s proposed $3.3 million 2018-’19 program represents the largest infrastructure endeavor by the town since Maturo resumed office in 2011.