As you take a break from your shoveling today, wed like to offer you another Letter to the Editor thats been submitted to the Hampton Union. This one is from our own Paul Kinnaly, Certified Financial Planner. Thank you Paul! The Cost of Waiting As I sat at last months Bond Hearing, I couldnt help but recall the old FRAM oil filter commercial that featured the tagline, pay me now or pay me later. For those of us that remember, the message encouraged making the right decision now (regularly change your oil) instead of putting off the decision and ultimately paying a much higher cost down the road (when needing to replace your entire engine). As residents of Hampton Falls, we face a similar decision today. Most everyone agrees that improvements are needed at Lincoln Akerman School. The School Boards comprehensive proposal allows us to pay less now, locking in historically low financing and 2014-15 construction costs. Both of the competing articles recommend doing the project piecemeal, suggesting at the Bond Hearing that the town split the project up and come back again for those needs not addressed now. Beyond the disruption and division extended by reconvening, will financing costs be more advantageous down the road? Will construction costs be cheaper 3, 5, 10 years from now? Experience tells us they will not. How impactful is the cost of financing? Last year the projected bond rate for the project was 3.25%. This year the projected rate is 4.5%. Waiting one year has increased our financing cost 38.5%. Finally, to address misleading statements that represent the total project cost as a liability, the petitioners fail to account for the equivalent worth being added to the school. Making long-needed improvements to LAS will increase the physical value of our towns biggest asset, which will in time easily offset the cost of the renovations. Delaying improvements that are inevitable is only wasting our two greatest assets - our time and our money. I strongly recommend that the residents of Hampton Falls pay now, do what is fiscally responsible, and vote yes to Article 1. Paul A. Kinnaly Certified Financial Planner
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:35:24 +0000