The Needham Select Board voted unanimously April 7 to approve the sale of a $172,000 general obligation state house note to Oppenheimer & Co. at an interest rate of 8.75 percent, payable June 26, 2025, to provide short-term financing for the town’s South Street sewer project.

Dave James, a town staff member, told the board the note is temporary financing and “this particular note carries some exceptionally high interest rate … 8.75 percent,” explaining that short-term, low-dollar notes typically carry higher rates and that recent market turmoil reduced bidder interest. “We only had one bid for the note,” James said, and he described rate volatility as a short-term market reaction; he noted that other recent notes were selling in the mid-5 percent range and that a Bedford sale a week earlier had a 4.5 percent rate.

The board also ratified the preliminary and final official statements connected to the sale and authorized town officers to execute related documents. Those additional approvals were read as separate motions and carried by the same unanimous voice vote.

The board and staff discussed the limited dollar impact of the higher rate, with James saying the additional interest would amount to only a few thousand dollars because of the loan’s short term. James said the note will help the town “get us through the end of the fiscal year” and close out debt-service accounts while larger, longer-term borrowing is arranged for the sewer and other capital work.

James described a planned larger bond issuance later this spring and summer to refinance short-term notes and fund projects that include work on town buildings and water-related projects. He said the town expects an approximately $11 million longer-term bond issue that will extend past July 1 and be timed to coincide with other maturities so the town can combine issues for the fiscal 2027 budget year.

Board members asked whether the town could re-offer the note if market rates dropped; staff replied the calendar and required marketing timeline (about six weeks) make reissuing impractical for this short-term borrowing. James also noted the town is exploring other financing sources for larger water projects, including potential use of the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust, but said those sources are not part of this short-term note.

Votes at a glance: The Select Board approved three related motions by unanimous voice vote — (1) approval of the $172,000 state house note to Oppenheimer & Co., dated April 15, 2025, payable June 26, 2025, at 8.75 percent; (2) ratification of the notice of sale and preliminary official statement (dated March 27, 2025, corrected from an earlier typographical year); and (3) ratification of the final official statement (dated April 3, 2025) and authorization for town officers to execute required documents. The meeting record states the motions were seconded and then approved; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

The action is intended to be short-term cash management while the town prepares a larger bond issuance to finance the broader South Street sewer work and other capital projects. Further borrowings and refinancing are expected in the coming months.