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Select Board hears bond-status briefing; $500,000 conservation bond recently retired
Summary
Town finance staff and a bond presenter reviewed the status of municipal bonds, noting retirement of a $500,000 conservation bond, roughly $1.1 million principal outstanding and an approximately $9,000 surplus from a refunded bond.
Brentwood Select Board members received a detailed update on the town’s outstanding bonds from finance staff and a bond schedule from the New Hampshire Municipal Bond Bank.
Ambrose, the finance presenter at the meeting, explained that one older conservation bond (a $500,000 principal amount issued in 2004) was paid off on Jan. 15, 2025. He said the town now has six active bonds and possibly a seventh this year, with roughly $1.1 million in principal outstanding and about $154,000 outstanding interest. Ambrose also reported that the bond bank returned roughly $9,000 in excess bond proceeds, which the board could apply as a payment toward principal or interest or reallocate for a parcel acquisition or other purpose at the board’s direction.
Board members compared the bond payment schedule to items in the 2025 operating budget. The town had budgeted about $110,100 for open-space bond principal and about $30,000 for interest in 2025; the town administrator and Ambrose concluded those budget figures were broadly consistent with the bond schedule after accounting for recurring uses of impact fees to reduce specific bond payments (for example, an annual use of impact fees for the fire department bond). Ambrose noted individual bonds have varying final-payment dates; for example, one series expires in 2027, and another in 2039.
Board members asked technical questions about “true interest cost” numbers on the bond bank schedules; Ambrose attributed complex multi-year refunding and bond-bank calculations for apparent differences between stated coupon rates and the reported true interest cost. The board concluded the 2025 debt-service burden fits within the current budget assumptions but that issuing multiple open-space bonds in 2025 could tighten capacity.
Ending: The board accepted the briefing for budgeting purposes and asked staff to consider applying the roughly $9,000 returned from the bond bank either as a payment on the bond or reallocate it to potential parcel work the board is considering.
