Budget director Kurt Miller presents a capital spending plan to the Board of Aldermen on Aug. 13.
ANSONIA – The Ansonia Board of Aldermen approved on Tuesday (Aug. 13) a plan to spend $125,633,480 on city upgrades, including a new middle school, police equipment updates, and emergency vehicle replacements.
The largest item in the plan – by far – is construction funding for a new middle school, coming in at $100 million before state reimbursement. Voters approved borrowing for that school back in November in a ballot referendum. Other school items in the plan include $1.5 million for the purchase of land for the middle school, as well as $5 million for roof replacements in the district.
Some of the other big ticket items include about $2.2 million for public safety radio upgrades, $2.5 million for a new ladder truck, $5.3 million for roads, and $1.2 million for new ambulances.
The spending for the radio upgrades and new ambulances was already approved separately, with officials in each case citing a need to lock in prices before they go up.
In the Aldermen meeting, budget director Kurt Miller presented the plan and outlined its possible impact on the city’s debt. Under one borrowing scenario he outlined, the city’s current debt payment of $2.3 million would gradually increase to about $3.1 million by 2029, before beginning to decrease again.
“It’ll be a bit of a challenge in the first couple years,” Miller said in reference to the borrowing scenario. He said that the work the money will enable will be worth it, and that he was confident in the city’s ability to pay the money back.
How The City’s Paying
Miller said that most of the upgrades will be paid for using proceeds from the sale of the city’s WPCA to Aquarion. Many of the upgrades are divided into two categories – “pre-sale” and “post-sale,” in reference to the sale’s expected closing date of December 2.
Those “pre-sale” items – including the purchase of land for the middle school, police equipment upgrades, and upgrades to Colony Park – require action before that date, Miller said, and the city will likely do short-term borrowing to pay for them. He said he expects the city will pay those loans back as soon as it can after the sale closes.
The “post-sale” items – including new ambulances, a bucket truck, a dump truck, and upgrades to the Nature Center – will not be paid for until after the sale closes, Miller said.
The “pre-sale” items total $5,978,480, and the “post-sale” items total $2,820,000, for a grand total of $8,798,480.
The WPCA sale was for $41 million. After previous debts are paid off, the city expects to net about $30 million of that once the deal closes in December, according to a presentation Miller prepared in April.
But the largest item – the $100 million middle school construction – is not primarily being funded through the WPCA sale. Instead, it is expected to be paid for using city money that the state will mostly reimburse.
In Connecticut, the state reimburses municipalities for money they spend on school construction. The amount varies by district – normally, the state will reimburse between 20 and 80 percent of the money a city spends, according to the Department of Administrative Services.
However, in May, the state legislature passed a bill that grants Ansonia an 87 percent reimbursement rate for the new middle school, as long as the city submits an application by October 1.
If the city does so, then the state would reimburse up to $87 million of the costs for the new building. That leaves the city responsible for only the remaining $13 million at the end of the day.
The Complete Breakdown
The full spending plan is broken down into four sections.
“General Fund” refers to recurring items that are already included in the city’s budget passed in May.
“Pre-sale” refers to items that the city expects to pay for using short-term borrowing, which it intends to pay back when the WPCA sale closes in December.
“Post-sale” refers to items that the city intends to pay for using WPCA sale money after the deal closes.
“Debt Instrument” refers to items that the city intends to pay for using longer-term borrowing.
General Fund – $535,000
Police vehicles – $150,000
DPW equipment – $50,000
FY capital plan – $75,000
Revaluation fund – $50,000
Fleet replacement 1 – $20,000
Fleet replacement 2 – $30,000
Sidewalk repair – $25,000
Drainage repair – $25,000
Catch basin repair – $15,000
Pot hole/road updates – $50,000
Tree removal – $20,000
Park repair/updates – $25,000
Pre-sale – $5,978,480
Police guns – $40,000
Police tasers – $100,000
Police chief/lieutenant vehicles – $201,000
Police canine – $90,000
Middle school land – $1,500,000
Roads – $1,320,575
Fire department tools – $50,000
Building key fob – $50,000
Building cameras – $100,000
Colony Park upgrades – $185,000
IT upgrades – $100,000
Radio infrastructure – $2,2421,905
Post-sale – $2,820,000
Two ambulances – $1,150,000
Bucket truck – $212,000
Dump trucks – $520,000
EOC – $250,000
Generators – $125,000
Nature Center upgrades – $250,000
Roadside – $213,000
Scale – $100,000
Debt Instrument – $116,300,000
Engine truck – $1,200,000
Ladder truck – $2,500,000
Rescue truck – $1,500,000
Animal shelter – $1,100,000
Street cameras – $1,000,000
Roads – $4,000,000
School roofs – $5,000,000 (with 87 percent reimbursement from state)
Middle school building – $100,000,000 (with 87 percent reimbursement from state)
