The library's Board of Trustees unanimously approved a project to refinance the Branch Improvement Plan (BIP) bonds at a special meeting on Oct. 24. The project involves refinancing the nine-year-old bonds, which funded the five new/renovated branch libraries, to get a better interest rate and reduce the cost to taxpayers.
The library will move forward with the refinancing project and expects to close on the new bonds by the end of the year. The rate of savings to the taxpayers will be known after the project closes.
The goal of the refinancing project is to secure a lower interest rate on the current bonds, thereby decreasing the tax levy for the BIP libraries and reducing the cost to Albany taxpayers.
The 30-year, $29.1 million bond was taken out in 2007, after voter approval, to fund the renovation of three library branches and construction of two new branches. Those libraries--Arbor Hill/West Hill, Bach, Delaware, Howe, and Pine Hills--opened between November 2009 and June 2010.
