Board dives into capital plan and $68M school-bonding scenario; members debate down payments and tax-funded capital

Chair (speaker 1) led an extended capital-planning discussion built around a Massachusetts debt-service calculator and a Board of Education proposal that would borrow $68 million for school-related projects. Chair explained how different amortization choices change total cost and annual debt service and invited members to consider partial down payments and a multi-year tax-funded capital program to reduce peak impacts.

"If you put that in the top, the amount borrowed ... where bonds now, they're at about $3.05... If you do level debt service, you're going to pay the same amount each year with a different balance of principal and interest," Chair said while demonstrating scenarios for level principal and level payment. Members debated using capital reserves as an upfront down payment versus reserving those funds to smooth future spikes, and they discussed whether to set a tax-funded capital target (initially proposed at 2.5% of operating budget, later converging at a 2% working target during discussion).

Board members and staff discussed timing (including linking major borrowing to the town's revaluation year), distributional impacts of a revaluation on homeowners, and the town's debt policy lines. Amy (finance director) ran interactive levy and debt models showing how various choices would affect mill rates and home impacts; the board asked staff for further analysis on an agreed target for tax-funded capital, benchmarks for debt metrics, and timing scenarios to avoid overlapping debt peaks.