AVALON — Borough Council held a special meeting Sept. 5, adopting a resolution to make application to the local finance board for re-approval to refund an outstanding bond for the 8th Street recreation field project with proceeds from a low-interest state Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Loan.
Council passed an ordinance for the original application to the local finance board in October 2004, asking for authorization to refund a portion of the general improvement bond with a loan available through the Green Acres Program. The ordinance, titled Ordinance 537-2004, appropriated an amount of $650,000 for financing at an interest rate of 2 percent.
Previous bond financing was set at 4.25 percent.
An estimated $150,000 was initially received, but the remaining half-million was not received until this July, Borough Administrator Andrew Bednarek told the Herald.
“Action couldn’t be taken until the funds were made available,” Joseph Baumann, borough Bond Counsel said.
When the balance was received this summer, the move was made to utilize the lower interest rate, as if borough were refinancing a mortgage.
“It will save the borough about $83,000-84,000,” Bednarek said.
A final approval meeting will take place later this month.
The Green Acres Program was created in 1961 to meet state recreational and conservation needs; protecting land, expanding state parks and forests and providing park areas. The program also provides grants and low interest loans to local governments and nonprofit land trusts to augment local open space tax funds and to encourage open space preservation with the highest funding going to those with the most progressive open space policies and practices.
The 8th Street recreation project was originally financed with a multipurpose bond totaling an estimated $1.4 million.
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