Dover Board of Selectmen Votes to Pursue Bond Issue, Seeks Moody's Rating Reinstatement

DOVER -- June 2, 2025, Dover Board of Selectmen reaches consensus to issue bonds and restore its Moody's credit rating, suspended after the town missed audit deadlines. Meeting unanimously in a special working session on June 2, board members Robin Hunter, Dave Havlin, and Pat Hudson, joined by advisers from Hilltop Securities, agreed to pursue a roughly $3.2 million bond issue structured mostly at 15 years, with a 10-year term for the turf field component estimated to cost an additional $238,000 in interest compared with a shorter hybrid structure. The board also voted unanimously to certify 20-year useful lives for two fire apparatus, a $990,000 rescue pumper authorized in 2023 and a $55,000 fire pumper authorized in 2025, a prerequisite under state law for long-term borrowing. A Moody's reinstatement call is set for June 5, with bond delivery targeted on or before June 26 to meet a July 15 payment obligation to the regional school district. Town officials acknowledged that a fiscal year 2024 audit, required to strengthen the reinstatement case, is not expected until October, four months after the fiscal year-end.