AUBURN – A decision on $4.5 million in new debt to pay for road work, school building repairs and new Auburn Hall furniture will wait until July 26.

Councilors Monday decided to table a decision on the city’s 2004-05 Capital Improvement Bond.

The meeting included some testy exchanges over whether the city should be buying new furniture to go into the new city building.

“Somebody has to decide these spending priorities,” said Ed Desgrosseilliers of Hatch Road. “The thing is, the priorities you’ve made don’t fit, in my opinion.”

According to the proposed bond package, $1 million would go to the schools for building repairs, $1.75 million would go for street improvements and paving, $927,000 would go for new equipment and furniture, $350,000 would pay for engineering and designs for a new industrial park and $200,000 would pay for repairs at the Great Falls building.

The bond package being considered was almost $2 million less than first considered. According to City Manager Pat Finnigan, the city trimmed $464,000 from the school’s request, about $800,000 from the street repairs and $300,000 from the new equipment purchases.

Desgrosseilliers noted that a $350,000 line item for the new Auburn Hall furniture hadn’t been cut.

“It’s not that I want you people to sit on orange crates to do your work,” he said. “But my father always said, pine is a heckuva good wood. Maybe you don’t need anything fancy.”

Existing furniture in the Auburn City Building is either too old or the wrong size to make the trip to the Auburn Hall, according to Finnigan. The new building is designed to help city staffers work efficiently and some new furniture is necessary, she said.

“This furniture will not be luxurious,” Finnigan said. “It will be utilitarian.”

Councilors discussed the bond package in a work session before the regular meeting, and decided then to table it until July 26.

MMWAC

Councilors did agree to refinance the remains of the $29 million Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. debt from 1994. The city could save as much as $500,000 over the next 10 years by getting a better interest rate on the remaining $12 million in bonds. That could lower the city’s debt payments this year by $150,000, according to Laurie Smith, acting finance director.

“That depends on the interest rate we get when we finally sell them,” Smith said.

Councilors also agreed to let Auburn manufacturer Morin Brick get $6.7 million in tax-exempt bonds through the Finance Authority of Maine.

The company is seeking Industrial Revenue Bonds through the authority. Those bonds have a lower interest rate because they are exempt from federal taxes. They are considered municipal bonds, but they don’t affect the city’s credit rating. Auburn councilors had to agree before the bonds could be sold, however.

The money will be used to build a new 30,000-square-foot building and a 10,000-square-foot addition to the existing facility, at 3600 Old Danville Road.