Whitman Select Board approves $59.5 million school bond sale at rates below 4 percent

WHITMAN — March 10, 2026 — Whitman Select Board unanimously approves $59.5 million in school bonds and notes at competitive rates while confronting a $500,000 budget deficit. The board approved the sale of $28,535,000 in general obligation school bonds to Raymond James and Associates at a true interest cost of 3.915 percent, and $31 million in bond anticipation notes to Jefferies LLC at 2.335 percent, with Moody's assigning an Aa3 rating to the bonds — the town's existing rating reaffirmed. Fiscal advisor Ben Oglesby of UniBank Fiscal Advisors told the board the premium on the notes would cut the taxpayer interest burden from roughly $1.2 million to about $770,305. The financing covers the Whitman Middle School project through an inter-municipal agreement allowing the town to borrow on behalf of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, which cannot obtain a bond rating due to audit delays. Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter reported health insurance costs rising 10 percent for active employees and pegged the remaining budget deficit at just under $500,000, with the board authorizing her to advertise for an assistant town administrator immediately and scheduling a budget decision for the March 24 meeting.