Wastewater debt unlikely to be refinanced

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Earlier in the month the selectmen voted to place three articles on the Nov. 3 referendum ballot, and one article asks for the town’s authorization to refinance remaining wastewater debt. The amount to refinance is a little more than $1,361,000 and under the proposal the interest rate would be reduced from 2.5 percent to an expected rate of 1 percent or less, which along with the reduced timeframe leads to an expected present value savings of about $273,190.

“The first thing is not the best news, but it’s news we need to let everyone know,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said during a Sept. 28 selectmen’s meeting. He said it is unlikely that the town will be able to refinance the wastewater debt as had been discussed two weeks prior.

Clukey said Finance Director Dave Johnson works tirelessly on options to save the town money through methods such as refinancing debt, but there appears to be new stipulations pertaining to the ability of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank to refinance the wastewater debt that did not apply to previous projects.

“It just doesn’t look like we will be in a position to do this refinancing in the fall and possibly not in the spring or ever,” Clukey said. He said because the question asks for authorization to refinance the question is still valid, but whether the selectmen can move forward if the article passes is far less certain.

In other business, the board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Dover-Foxcroft Area Food Cupboard to use a room at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building through the end of May.

“As you know the food cupboard is operating out of the Congregational Church now,” Clukey said, saying the organization will be moving and has a storage unit but this space would be less than ideal during the winter.

Instead, the food cupboard would use an empty room at the town office through the end of May. Clukey said as part of the agreement, “if we have someone interested in renting that space they would move with 30 days notice. That gets them through the situation they are in.”

Selectperson Jane Conroy said the food cupboard distributes twice a month. “The last distribution day we had 74 families being served, and that’s just Dover-Foxcroft.”

In other business, Clukey reported that the comprehensive planning committee had met recently. “They spent a lot of time on strategies to get input” for a vision statement, he said.

“One of the ways we are focusing on is to do a survey at the polls in November as people are leaving,” he said.

Clukey said State Rep. Norm Higgins (R-Dover-Foxcroft) and State Sen. Paul Davis (R-Sangerville) had previously talked with the selectmen about a Department of Health and Human Services public hearing on the needs of county residents for agency services.

The hearing will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Penquis Higher Education Center. “I don’t have a time but I have a day,” Clukey said.

He also said the Maine Department of Transportation is planning to pave the Milo Road next year, starting from beyond Free Street and finishing at the four corners in Sebec.