Babylon Town will issue $13.9M in bonds for capital projects

Babylon Town will issue $13.9 million in bonds this year to pay for new trucks, roadway and parks improvements, and other capital projects.

The Babylon Town Board voted unanimously in December to approve 19 bond resolutions, including $6 million for roadwork, $3.1 million for park upgrades and $1.4 million for heavy machinery, board resolutions show.

Deputy Supervisor Tony Martinez said that many of the road projects will take place in Copiague, especially the American Venice neighborhood. The bonds will also bring new LED lights to Birchwood Park and a new playground at the Fabio Buttitta Pool, both in Deer Park — projects that will cost about $900,000 total, Martinez said.

The new bonds will add to the town’s general obligation debt, which currently stands at $166 million, Comptroller Victoria Marotta said. The town plans to retire $16,325,000 in debt this year, Marotta said, continuing its policy of paying off more debt annually than it takes on.

Two new snow plows and one street sweeper will eat up half of the $1.4 million in bonds for heavy machinery, with the rest going to the purchase of light-duty trucks, town spokesman Kevin Bonner said.

The town will spend $1.5 million to replace heating, ventilation and air-conditioning infrastructure in Town Hall in Lindenhurst. The building was constructed in 1957, according to Martinez, who said he believes the HVAC equipment has never been updated.

“It’s going to address the entire system,” Bonner said of the HVAC upgrade. “It’s much cheaper and more effective to do it this way instead of piecemeal.”

The town will likely save money on bond issues thanks to the Aaa rating it received from Moody’s Investors Service in November, Marotta said. The higher rating could create more competition among bidders for Babylon’s bonds, which in turn, could lower the interest rate the town pays on them, she said.

Some of the smaller items in the 2018 bond issue are $120,000 for a third mobile stage Babylon uses or leases out for events, and $80,000 for new security cameras at town beaches.

Bonner said the town plans to employ Capital Markets Advisors to assist with the 2018 bond issue.

The Great Neck company assumed the role last year after Doug Jacob temporarily stepped down from his position as the town’s municipal finance adviser after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requested records relating to his work for the town and its 2015 and 2016 bonds.

Bonner said the town has not received an update from the SEC about the status of the investigation, which he added is not related to the town’s 2018 bonds.