Council hears bonding scenarios for school construction; financial adviser recommends two-issue approach to ease near-term tax pressure

At its Jan. 21 meeting, the West Warwick Town Council heard a detailed presentation on financing options for a proposed school construction program, including scenarios for $55 million, $60 million and $65 million bond issues and potential reimbursements from the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Matt Belace, financial adviser with Hilltop Securities, told the council the town could expect strong reimbursement from RIDE if the project is approved, and described tradeoffs between issuing a single bond and issuing two separate bonds. “One bond issue also has lower issuance costs,” Belace said. “The two bonds allow you to kind of layer in the debt service … so the budgetary impact is less upfront.”

The matter is tied to West Warwick’s Stage 2 submission to RIDE, due Feb. 15, and a joint meeting of the School Committee and Town Council on Feb. 12 was mentioned as the time when the council may act on the school committee’s recommendation. Belace said the council could seek authorization to bond for up to the total amount…