Finance team outlines multi‑year capital plan; council introduces bond ordinance for first reading

A financial advisory team representing the Beinfeld Group, Acacia Group and Lurchfinzi & Bliss gave the Township of Washington council a detailed multi‑year plan on May 4, showing current outstanding bonds, a proposed 2026 capital bond and projected debt-service through 2029 and beyond. The presentation explained the township's strategy to roll short-term notes into longer-term bonds and to use designated grant receipts to reduce outstanding principal.

"You have two series of bonds outstanding, which is the 2019 bonds and the 2022 bonds," the presenter summarized, listing the township's outstanding debt and noting a large drop in debt service when the 2019 series matures in 2030. The team outlined a proposed 2026 ordinance for $1,464,000 of new capital and sketched tentative new capital proposals for 2027''29.

Council members asked for practical examples to compare the cost of incremental projects. "You could just kind of run the numbers on what a $100,000 note would look like," said Josh Nikita of Acacia, offering to provide an amortization example showing how a single project would be allocated across the blended financing plan.

Presenters described the legal and accounting constraints that drive the plan: state rules requiring early amortization and a weighted-average useful life for assets combined into a single financing. The financial team said they used a conservative interest-rate assumption in the presentation (3.35 percent) and that prevailing market rates for recent financings have been nearer to 2.80''2.90 percent, which could lower projected costs.

After questions and clarifications, the council introduced Ordinance 26‑10, a bond ordinance appropriating $1,799,000 and authorizing the issuance of $1,464,398 in bonds or notes for various township improvements. The motion to introduce the ordinance at first reading passed on a roll-call vote, and the council authorized publication and scheduled a public hearing under Resolution 26‑245. The financing team said an offering statement and official statement would be produced if the ordinance moves forward.

Next steps: the council will hold the scheduled public hearing and consider final adoption at a subsequent meeting; the administration said a resolution authorizing the notice of sale and other sale collateral would be prepared for the May 18 meeting if the ordinance remains on track.