Morristown, Dover Benefit from Improvement Authority Program

Published on August 03, 2006

Morristown and Dover are the latest towns to benefit from the Morris County Improvement Authority's Guaranteed Capital Equipment Lease-Purchase Program, which allows towns and school districts to borrow money at low interest rates to finance needed equipment.

Morristown used the MCIA to facilitate a $450,000 loan for a new fire truck, while the authority helped Dover transact a $341,568 loan for a new EMS vehicle and a new street sweeper.

The Guaranteed Capital Equipment Lease-Purchase Program, backed by a guarantee from the Morris County Board of Freeholders, is an alternative method of funding, on a Triple-A tax-exempt basis, capital equipment such as vehicles, public works equipment and computers that may have been funded entirely through the budget process, and which required a 5 percent down payment.

"One of the attractive benefits of this program is that towns and school districts can finance equipment at tax-exempt rates with no down payment," said Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino, liaison to the MCIA.

"The paperwork involved on their part is minimal, the payment schedule is flexible and Morris County's Triple-A rating on the bond enables the town or school district to achieve the lowest possible interest cost."

Morristown and Dover join Mine Hill and the Roxbury, Parsippany, Lincoln Park, Boonton Township, Randolph and Morris School District boards of education who have used the lease-purchase program to facilitate more than $4.6 million in loans since the program was established by the MCIA in 2004.

For more information, contact the Morris County Improvement Authority at (973) 285-6020 or visit the MCIA Web site, morriscountyimprovementauthority.org.

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