The Erie Town Council is weighing a plan to fund a $40 million expansion of the town’s police facility using certificates of participation — a lease-to-own financing tool that lets governments build major projects without voter approval.
Under a COP agreement, a government makes annual lease payments out of its general budget, and once payments are complete the building is fully owned.
The proposal is part of a bundled $47 million COP package that also includes $5 million for undermining mitigation under Town Center and $2 million for mitigation near the Erie Community Center, according to Gabi Rae, Erie’s communications and community engagement director. The Council is set to vote Oct. 14 on a contract with builder Fransen Pittman and on authorizing reimbursements through COPs, a step that would allow construction to begin before the COP debt is sold…