Andrew Tritt of STIFEL Company proposed a bond refinancing package that could save the City of Demorest more than $1 million.
In Tuesday’s meeting of the Demorest City Council, a budget for 2016 was approved. The budget includes a surplus of funds at the end of the year.
It was noted by Mayor Rick Austin that SPLOST revenues had been greater than anticipated this year, with proceeds of $144,116. Proceeds carried over from the preceding year totaled $116,465, with a capital expenditures budget surplus of $199,975.
The total, projected for 2016 capital expenditures, approved by the council, was $453,000, leaving a total surplus of $7,556 in the city’s coffers. Projected expenditures included the cost of one police patrol car, estimated annually at $30,000 (with a second car to be purchased in 2017); and partial costs of a fire engine rescue pumper at $15,000 annually, with funding allocated toward that purchase each year.
Future water and sewer spending is planned for, in the 2016 budget, to run an 8″ pipe from Garrison Road to the reservoir at Baldwin Water Plant and to replace aging water pipes in the city and immediately outside city limits. Approximately 30 miles of pipe need replacement, with an estimated total cost of $2M. Those expenses are to be budgeted for 1/2 mile completed each year, incrementally, and costs for 2016 are included in the budget approved Monday.
Firefighter benefits
The council also voted Monday night that, effective Jan. 1, 2016, full-time pay with benefits will begin for three full-time firefighters’ positions. There will be no usual 90-day waiting period for the benefits due.
Bond refinancing
The council heard Monday from Andrew Tritt of STIFEL Company, who has proposed bond refinancing packages in the past for Habersham’s Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners. He proposed a package to Demorest council members for the city to combine its U.S.D.A. bonds into one, allowing the city to pay off the bonds 14 years earlier than previously determined. Mayor Rick Austin said that the early payoff “will result in saving $1.2 million.”
About the 2016 budget surplus, as well as the plans for saving money with combined bond payments, Austin said Wednesday “we’re making progress – moving things forward.”
