Swampscott capital improvement board seeks fire truck, road repair funds

SWAMPSCOTT – The Capital Improvement Committee is recommending an article be placed on the Town Meeting warrant asking Town Meeting to put a capital outlay expenditure exclusion on the ballot to purchase a new fire truck and pay for road repairs.At the Board of Selectmen meeting Tuesday evening, selectmen listened to members of the Capital Improvements Committee explain the advantages of funding those two projects through a capital outlay expenditure exclusion procedure as opposed to more traditional methods such as borrowing or a debt exclusion override.The Capital Improvement Committee is recommending using the outlay expenditure exclusion procedure to fund $450,000 in capital projects. According to Cindy Merkle, the assessed value of an average home in town is $400,000. She said the average homeowner would pay approximately $44 for the fire truck and $22 for the road improvements, which are expected to cost $150,000.Capital Improvements Committee member Joseph Markarian explained Prop. 2 1/2 allows a community to finance expenditures through a one-year only property tax surcharge with a capital exclusion vote as opposed to a debt exclusion, which takes many years to pay off.Markarian said using the capital outlay exclusion is like paying cash and the town would not be saddled with paying interest on borrowing and it does not increase the town’s debt, which helps its bond rating.Markarian said the fire truck and road repairs are necessary expenditures and the committee is recommending the capital outlay expenditure exclusion procedure, which the town has never used before, as an alternative source of funding.According to Town Administrator Andrew Maylor, many communities including Marblehead use the capital outlay expenditure exclusion to fund capital projects and let the voters decide what projects they want to fund.Merkle said if Town Meeting does not vote to put the capital outlay expenditure exclusion on a ballot both projects would be funded by borrowing because the fire truck and road repairs are necessary expenditures.