Committee to discuss backing school board loan
BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer

HOLMDEL - Rise and shine. It's time to talk about debt.

On Thursday, the Township Committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. to approve $868,000 in debt service for the Board of Education.

According to Township Administrator Christopher Schultz, the committee is expected to adopt an ordinance to allow the board to borrow money from the Monmouth County Improvement Authority (MCIA). The township must agree to pay back the loan in case the board is unable.

"The municipality guarantees the debt," Committeeman Terence Wall said. "We are the co-signers, in a sense."

"Basically, the MCIA is a loan," Wall continued. "It's a pooled loan program where municipalities can submit requests. They sell debt in bulk [so we can] get a better interest rate and take advantage of the county's AAA standing."

According to the Board of Education's equipment list, a large chunk of the money will be spent on 253 desktop computers at a price of $288,926. An additional $11,175 will be spent on five convertible notebooks and three cabled LCD projectors. Twelve notebook computers for mobile labs will cost $18,000, notebook computers with docking stations will run $5,400 and two notebook computers for staff and instruction are listed at $3,200. An additional $9,000 will go toward four Apple iBooks on carts as podcast stations. Software will cost $17,655.

Listed under vehicles are four pickup trucks with snowplows at $100,000, a wheelchair van at $80,000 and a 24-passenger van for $55,000. Also, a Bobcat with a snowplow is shown at $30,000 and a Suburban van for $25,000.

All totaled, these items and others come to $801,450. The debt service is not to exceed $868,000.

Back on June 21, the committee discussed whether to act as the school board's co-signer. Mayor Serena DiMaso and Committeeman Larry Fink supported the idea while Deputy Mayor Alan Bateman and Wall were against it. Committeeman Rocco Pascucci abstained from the discussion.