Bellows Falls found the money

By STEPHEN SEITZ
Special to the Eagle Times
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — The village of Bellows Falls has repaid the money it owes to the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank.

Back in 2014, the village borrowed $521,000 to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant. But then the U.S. Department of Agriculture came up with the money and a negative interest loan, so that money was used instead. However, the village did not immediately repay the bond bank loan, using the money instead for other purposes. 

The bond bank did forgive $198,000, leaving about $323,000 to be repaid. 

“This should not have come as a surprise, except for the timing,” Municipal Manager Wendy Harrison said. “There were no financial irregularities.”

After the meeting, finance director Ron Karvosky said, “The money was always there.”

During the meeting, Harrison said Karvosky would be meeting with the auditor for the finishing touches. 

Harrison then asked the trustees to raise the sewer rates by 25 percent. 

Trustee James McAuliffe said, “You said this should not have come as a surprise, but it was news to me.Those of us here were not on the board in 2014. We didn’t even know it existed.”

About $78,000 came from the sewer fund, McAuliffe said. 

“Now the sewer fund is in a negative balance,” he said.

Trustee Stefan Golec said he was on the board in 2014; he is the one who moved to approve the loan application. 

“These funds should be kept separate,” he said. “It would be easier for the layperson to see where their money is.”

“Commingling the funds enabled us to repay the loan,” McAuliffe repled.

The trustees did grant the 25 percent sewer rate hike, but declined a request from Harrison to raise water rates by 5 percent. Karvosky said the water fund has $1.3 million in it, which led several board members to say they didn’t see the need for a rate hike at this time. 

The wastewater treatment plant will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 29.