Community Corner
Residents Approve $700,000 Bond To Repair Spring Road Bridge
"It's a tremendous safety hazard if we don't do it," First Selectman Michael Freda said.
North Haven will move forward with the replacement of one lane in Spring Road Bridge, following a unanimous vote in favour of a bonding resolution in the amount of $700,000 at the annual town meeting Monday.
Roughly two dozen persons—many of them town officials—attended the meeting, which took place in the auditorium at North Haven High School.
Prior to the vote, First Selectman Michael Freda assured the audience
that the bonding resolution is an extension of a bonding package the town passed earlier this year. As such, he said, the town will not exceed its $6.8 million debt service as a result of bridge’s repair.
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According to Lynn Sadosky, director of public works, one lane of the bridge, which is heavily travelled, failed an inspection by the state Department of Transportation in May. Two girders have deteriorated
to the point where they need replacement, Jonathan Bodwell, the town engineer, said.
“It’s a tremendous safety hazard if we don’t do it,” said Freda just before
the vote.
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Freda noted that the state has already committed just over $200,000 to the project. That means the town will spend only $500,000 on the repair, although the town is required by law to bond for the full estimated cost of the repair.
Freda said the bonds will amortize over a period of 17 years.
At the end of the meeting, Freda noted that North Haven has run a surplus in its town budget for the third year in a row—this time, amassing a surplus of roughly $750,000.
He said the town had underexpended its 2011-2012 budget by roughly $273,000. The savings accrued department after department, "across-the-board," he said.
Revenues, he noted, exceeded projections by roughly $400,000. He said this was the result of the economic development that has taken place in the town, with building fees from the Yale-North Haven Medical Center and various restaurants increasing the town's revenues incrementally.
He said each department in town government had made a concerted effort “not to spend the dollars we’re authorized to spend.”
