Town switching to Citizens Bank

The Board of Selectmen approved a bid for new banking services from Citizens Bank at its Monday night meeting.

Treasurer Don Brabant explained that beginning this January the town’s former bank provider, Bank of America, was going to start charging fees. So he and Finance Director Jack Sheehy started looking for other banking services.

They checked with Ocean National Bank, BankNorth, Bank of America, and Citizens Bank for their rates. They chose these four banks because all have branches within the town so it’s easy to make deposits and so it’s available to service town employees.

Selectman Joe Pace excused himself from discussion because he works for Citizens Bank. Brabant and Sheehy recommended that Citizens Bank be used for banking services, and the selectmen agreed.

The board also approved dispensing $47,520 from the ambulance fund to purchase new replacement defibrillators.

Fire Chief Brian Comeau and Assistant Chief Ken Berkenbush were both at the meeting to discuss the topic. Comeau said the department purchased several defibrillators in 2001 that now need to be replaced.

The money will be used to purchase two manual defibrillators for the ambulance, an automatic defibrillator for fire apparatus, and an automatic external defibrillator for the Town Offices.

Comeau said the ambulance fund is at $292,629 and the department expects to have $190,000 in revenue from ambulance services.

The board also accepted a bid for a new loader at the Public Works Department for $145,700, which will require voter approval in March. The bid award went to Nortrax Equipment Company.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.