I Judy Reed. Item 3.1 future topics. Fred brought in the the this paper. Yeah. Okay. every got he gave us a everybody a copy. We don't have to share. Yeah. Um I we have done this. I have done this and it might have been on in a previous board but I I remember doing this but there have been so many changes that I think we need to at least look into it and Julie Bacon is phenomenal as far as presenting things. Um it does take time. It's not just a a an hour's thing. Sometimes it'll stretch into I remember it being longer, like two to four hours long. But if that's what it takes to make me understand school finance, that's probably a good idea. It's probably going to take more than four hours. But the thing but the thing is it may be shorter and I may have a bad memory of this you know not a bad not that it was a bad thing but a bad you know circuit.
Um, and so really it's about $17 on an average assessed valuation home of $100,000. Um, and that's just the average over the course of those years. Obviously, it would fluctuate the years that we're paying higher principal, it's going to be a higher rate, but on average about 17. Real quick recap. Recap what you said 2028 for current bonds being paid off. That's correct. 20. Thank you. 28. Yep. So that you see right there on that column, it says existing bonds. It's a $17 million payment in 2025 and then it starts going down until 2028. Our final payment is 8 million81. Um so then the other scenario is okay well what if we look at it's 90 million what if we do it over 15 years because obviously we want to also ensure that we are being fiscally responsible and not paying more interest than necessary.
Um, if you get if I if the notifications go out a week before the contractor starts the circuit, if you're on the other end of the circuit, uh, from where they started, you may not see them for a month. Um, but like I said, if people have questions, uh, there is a number, um, that they can call to get in touch with me uh, after a few steps. All right, any other questions? Okay. So, um this is something that uh No. Okay. This is something we need to vote and approve and there's a decision or so typically uh what we typically do is write a memo. Okay. Um like an approval memo just a one pager. I can't remember. And so, um we can do that. I think traditionally I I don't know if the whole full chair even signed that. I think it could have just been you Trisha.
Um I would like to suggest following Fred's suggestion that we go ahead and have uh Kelsey look into or call Julie and see what what this would be about. Yeah. Okay. see if we can arrange a time where she can be here. And Cassie says that it does happen virtually. She does have virtual. Yeah, I was going to say it does say that in person and virtual, but I think with something like this, I would prefer in person. Yeah, I prefer Julie being here and stuff. It's easier to I think ask questions. The reason why is because I learn better if I see the whites of their eyes. Yeah. And also we have the benefit and the advantage of the input from other board members that uh you know I mean we all have insights that that we bring to the to the board that uh can help us all learn and get better and you don't have to worry about your Zoom meeting freezing up halfway through.
So something to consider here is while the tax rate now you see down there that 22 cents it does go up the average annual tax rate however compared to the pre so it's higher than the previous 17. However when I was looking at the total amount of interest paid um on the 20-year bond you'd be looking at about $32.8 million in interest paid versus on a 15 it's about 23.9. So right there, you're saving almost, you know, almost $10 million in interest by paying it off over the course of five years sooner. It is a little bit more of an aggressive tax rate, but you also pay less on on tax on interest overall. So that's another scenario. The other scenario that was just looked at was okay, move it up a little bit up to 95 million. What does that look like? You see, it doesn't budge too much.
Um I can go back and look, but next week obviously if it's approved, we'll draft up a memo. We'll send it around and um and the pling board can kind of come in and and sign the memo um and go from there. Okay. Any other questions? Should we make a motion for the memo? I think yes. Make a vote. Uh I was going to say seems pretty straightforward to me. Approve it in light of the fact that the tree is being removed and it's fairly minimal. So I'll make a motion to Approve the petition by Eversource Centering Post Street. I make a friendly amendment for that subject to um conditions of minimum oneweek notice, no trees being removed, um notification town if there has to be removal hazardous ANC 300 um pruning. And I think it's not a bad idea to put that size as well that they said that size the size the 10 by 10.
There you go. Yeah. Yeah. That happens that happened to us Sunday. I I would also like to to get your opinions on whether we should ask the other local boards if they would like to make this more of a of a a workshop for everybody who idea for the other boards like the high school board or Mojave Valley. Yeah. Make it worth their while you're see if they would like to send one or more or the whole board and I'm sure that we could we could do this. Would that be okay with the board? Absolutely. I think it'd be a great idea. I mean, we're bringing somebody in who's I mean, Julie's up on everything. So, everybody has a different question. Yeah. Oh, what is the cost of this or is there no cost? $700 a person. Yeah. I'll take your money. Thank you. Oh, I didn't I thought is it being ASBA?
It's a 19 cents um average annual tax rate now over the course of those 20 years. And same thing now if you look at it over 15 years it's a 24 cent tax rate um average. So really all of these scenarios very similar to what we had kind of structured with the $127 million bond. The intent was that not to have that tax rate go higher than what taxpayers are currently already paying into. And really once the previous bonds are fully paid off in 28 it would have dropped dramatic. I mean we saw remember the chart it kind of dropped by half what that tax rate would be. Um, so that see if I have anything else here. So this is just the summary on that piece. It just shows you um really for those 90 versus $95 million what that new bond's average annual rate would be on a 100,000 assessed valuation home about $17 ranging up to $24 based on the different rates.
Okay. I mean it's in the not sure that has to be but the other the 10 foot the sides and bottom. Yeah. And 15 above. Yeah. Okay. So include include the specifications from the description of relief. That's reasonable. That makes sense to you. Yeah. Okay. So, um, so one week notification dimensions dimensions 300 and then if a tree was to be determined a hazard that they would notify the town. Is that correct, Kate? Before prior to removal. Y. Okay. So, those things would be added to the memo. Um, we can have that Um, we can have we can have a memo circulated to the board. If if there's no changes, then we can come in and sign it. Yeah. Okay. Um, can we do that in two weeks or do they don't do they need it sooner where I'll just sign it? Hey, Matt. Um, just just out of curiosity, the board just wants to talk about timing.
Yeah, because a member of ASBA. If it does, it's it's minimal and we'll take it out of your salary. Yeah, you can take it all out of So, Cassie, if you would do that for us and then u let's see if any of the other boards might be wanting to do that. It' be a nice thing to host here. Yes, it would. And that might also be a selling point for Julie, too. You know, if she knows that there's other boards interested and it won't be just for five people. Yeah. No, she's come on here before for five of us. Well, it might be more attractive if she knew there's going to be 30, but you know. Yeah. I know Julie's told us at all the conferences she doesn't mind making the trip out here for us for teaching purposes and stuff. She enjoys it.
And it, you know, the the $127 million bond was an average of about $36 average increased rate on a 100,000 assessed valuation home. So, a lot of homes, the average home here in Surprise is about 197,000 assessed valuation. So, round it up to about 200,000. So, you'd be looking at about double that for your average um annual amount paid. Just provide one more time the And John, if you don't mind speaking to Mike so we can Yep. And just to reiterate, the difference in interest paid between the 20-year and the 15-year term is approximately 5 million. Is that right? So, yeah. So, you can see that too on those um the scenarios down there where you see the U total. Well, I mean, you'd have to add the different interest columns, but for example, the 95 million5 year is 26.3 million in interest versus the 9520 year is 35.7 million in interest.
Now, it was to my understanding, what when do when does Eversource plan to come into Ashland? Uh, that's a good question. Um, this is the only circuit that we have in Ashland this year. Uh, I would expect um it would happen at some point over the summer. Um, but that can change uh depending on what's going on with other towns. Uh, for example, one of our biggest hurdles is police detail availability. Uh, so um that can't that that may change, but I would imagine it would be at this point it's going to be in the summer. Okay. So if we so if we plan the that we'll sign it at our next meeting that we'll have the have the document and sign it at our next meeting then um that would just be two weeks from today. Is that that's acceptable I assume? Yeah, I'll just answer that question.
Any other topics that we'd like to have Cassie or or Carolyn look into for us? Okay. We have our next meeting on April 17, 2025 at 5:30 for the workshop. And as soon as the workshop gets over, I hope you guys aren't doing another workshop. That won't be a long one. Okay. Um because we've had some long meetings recently. The last two meetings probably very long. Yeah. Um and the meeting the normal meeting would start at u the regular meeting would start at 6. Is everybody in line for that? Yep. Okay. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting then, please? I'll make a motion that we adjourn the meeting. I'll second it. All those in favor? I Meinda Saskki. I Charlene Diaz. I Fred Rushton. Hi, Barbara Darziki. Hi, Judy Reed. See, you're done.
So, that one I mean they all have about close to about a 9 to10 million savings by compressing that payment period by about five years. Um so obviously the counter to that is you have to be a little bit more aggressive on the payment and increase the taxes the tax rate gets adjusted but still with the goal of the tax rate not being above what the current taxpayers are experiencing now. Great question. Any other questions as you're looking through that information? Okay. Okay. So again, um I know you were all very familiar with where these figures came from. Um you know, when we met as with the committee last year, we really drilled into what was the makeup of all of these individual ones. And I know at our last um committee meeting, we provided that information again just in case, you know, just kind of refresh um what the bus replacements were made of.
Matt, I think the plenty board's talking about writing a memo and then we'll approve and sign it two weeks from today and then um and then you guys will be able to put this on your on your work schedule. Does that work for Eversource? Uh that is perfect. Okay, great. All right. So, we'll do that memo, but we might as well just um uh take the vote now so that we can um if there's any issue, we can just get it signed. So, I'll make a motion to approve the edition as amended. All right. Roll call vote. Oh, second. I Trisha Kendall. Okay, that is approved. We'll have that for you in two weeks. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. All right, you all have a good evening. You too. All right. Next on our agenda are the proposed bylaw changes. Um we had the U forum um two weeks ago when we talked about these.
It was 17 million. Uh what a new K8 school would be, about 35. um purchasing land for a high school. It was requested estimated about 10 facility repairs. Again, any renovations that includes, you know, flooring repairs, um air conditioning replacements, chillers, just all of the things related to our facilities that are um needing to be replaced at this point in time was about $48 million. Um and then safety and security. A lot of those uh needs and enhancements needed at our various sites were estimated about 17. So, at the time it was $127 million was the estimated cost. Um, so really what I wanted to um have the opportunity is really open up to the committee for you to have that conversation of, you know, as we know the the the bond failed. And so some of the feedback that's come in since then is was the 127 the right figure?
So, we just wanted to go through obviously the remaining questions and anything that was hanging out there um that wanted to be resolved before it then gets submitted to what what happens next. Alvaro um newspaper. Yeah, I will submit it simultaneously to the newspaper and to um Jen for to the the warrant. Can I ask a quick question about the overlay, the flood plane overlay? Do we need oncom to comment on that at all or is that is that done? Yeah. Um I sent it to Becca to review because the one change that we had from LA one of the changes that we had it was to see we could take out some of the zones since they didn't apply to the geography of Ashland. So she did review it. sent me an email uh saying that it was good from Becca or from like con commission itself conservation commission itself or I guess I conservation agent I guess I'm asking if we need to give it to the conservation itself I think I think if the plenty would want to reach out asking the question I think in in the time being you know I think we've worked with Becca she's kind of helped us kind of mold this bylaw to make sure it kind of she has no concerns and she has no concerns.
Is it something that we truly I know the conversation as a committee was these were needs. Um, and I think just to go back and really open it up to your feedback is is there a need to go back and kind of just revisit some of those and and get it closer to some of those other amounts that others have have been stating? One question that I had and I was thinking about this as I was driving over. Um, do you think that perhaps the fact that this bond was pitched during an election year that may have had an effect on voter participation and perhaps now that we're out of the election cycle, maybe they can focus a little more on it while at the same time we can possibly go a little closer to 127 million? That's that's a great question. I mean, I think that general feedback is yes.
Um so if you want us to I think in the process as we obviously put it in the newspaper and get ready for the public hearing if you would want to get consensus andor an opinion from the conservation commission we are more than happy to submit this to if there's time I don't think that would hurt to just kind of formalize because it's believe it's concurrent jurisdiction on this with them. So I don't think it's I mean we don't have time to go in front of conservation commission and no you know so they can look at it once it's in the paper but um but we're not public I'm guessing we're not publishing the text of the paper. No but it's on file with the town clerk. Okay. Yeah. So to please you're not you're not you don't change it. Are we having a public hearing at some point on it?
I mean, it draws out a lot more voters, especially in a presidential election. Um, so maybe some voters that it depends on kind of who your base is gonna be. I know Johnny probably has some words on that too. Uh, the number I I do not think the number played a role. Okay. Um when I look back uh you you I think your your premise is correct where in that we had this is a presidential cycle and the voters are not paying attention to that far down ballot. There was no organized opposition to the bond last year. Um so what it was just simply I I don't think I I I I don't think we got the message out. That's my that's my gut tells me. Um so the number whether it was 127 million or 99 million I don't I don't know if it would matter at last year.