SAUGUS — Town Manager Scott Crabtree discussed the town’s debt at a Finance Committee meeting and alluded to future plans to revitalize the Cliftondale Square area.
Crabtree said that for a long time, many residents did not understand why the town’s government was borrowing money, adding that it did not properly educate or inform them.
“We always want to maintain a certain percentage of debt service within our operating budget,” Crabtree said. “If we had no debt service, then you would use all of that money in operations, so when you would need to borrow money for something, you’d have to make actual cuts, usually to labor, to afford to borrow.”
Crabtree said that the ratio of debt service funds was, as of last year, “lower than other communities” and somewhere around 6 to 7%.
The money that the town had to borrow in the past was at a low interest rate, which Crabtree said was advantageous.
He added that the town is doing capital improvement work.
“50 years ago, we didn’t really look at those things,” he said.
Crabtree also discussed the possibility of revitalizing Cliftondale Square in the future. Eventually, he said, the town will need to put together a plan and take on debt to accomplish this.
Responding to a question about buildings the town purchased on Lincoln Avenue and Jackson Street, which are near Cliftondale, Crabtree said that the town is planning to demolish them in the long term and install public parking to aid the area’s economic development.
“We did some studies that showed that parking is one of the potential issues there, challenges there, for anybody that wants to open up a business,” he said.
Crabtree did say, however, that he was able to secure $2.3 million in federal funds through a grant. While he said it might seem like a lot of money, demolishing the buildings and creating parking lots would require more funding, which would need to be put together in a plan that would be vetted by the the Finance Committee and eventually approved by Town Meeting.
