Town Awaits Construction Reimbursement from State
WETHERSFIELD - The town is waiting on $11 million in high school construction-related reimbursement funds from the state, and when it gets it will determine how soon the next round of bonds go out for sale.

       Plans originally had the next bond sale scheduled for December of this year, but a delay in getting the reimbursement the state owes could move that up to September, said Wethersfield Finance Director Mike O’Neil.

       The amount reflects funds that were mistakenly classified as expenses that are not reimbursable, according to O’Neil.

       â€"Some costs are reimbursable and some are ineligible [for reimbursement],” O’Neil said during a Town Council special budget meeting held a couple of weeks ago. â€"And the ineligible costs were overstated. It’s just a matter of them fixing that on their own side.”

       The state was made aware of the error and intends to correct it, but when the town will see the money come back is not yet clear, he said.

       The town is expecting some reimbursements to come in around the middle of May, but nobody is sure how much it will be.

       â€"Our hope is that it will be a large payment, which would mean that they corrected the reimbursement issue,” O’Neil said.

       Because the town has a six-month interest payment schedule that begins with the sale of bonds, moving the date up means changing the budgetary appropriations for debt service in future years, O’Neil said.

       The matter is currently being handled within the Appropriations Committee at the State Capitol.

       The town sold its first round of bonds, worth over $20 million, in December 2014. It plans to issue two more separate bonds amounts before the $85 million high school renovation project is complete.

       The high school renovation has included the construction of the building’s new gymnasium, music room, and media center, with work within the preexisting wings currently taking place.
MORE WETHERSFIELD NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  May 20 2015  |  COMMENTS?