# Common Council Special Meeting - Bonding


**Body:** City of New Britain
**Date:** November 12, 2026
**Jurisdiction:** SLED

**Tags:** Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Digital Infrastructure


The City of New Britain Common Council held a special bonding meeting on November 12, 2026, and approved a $115 million appropriation and bond authorization to refund outstanding general-obligation bonds. Phoenix Advisors, the city’s municipal advisor, estimated the refinancing could yield approximately $4–5 million in net savings, including transaction costs, by replacing existing debt at lower rates without extending maturities beyond 2037. The advisor said the city would proceed only if market conditions continued to support savings and could pause the transaction if they did not. The authorization passed by a 12–1 roll-call vote. During public participation, a resident urged postponement until the city disclosed a full financial analysis and results of its 2020 refunding; council members also requested information about the bonds’ original uses and prior refinancing results.

The council also approved a $4 million appropriation and bond authorization for information-technology infrastructure and cybersecurity upgrades, with 13 votes in favor. City staff described a potential cloud-based financial-system upgrade costing about $2.2 million, along with hardware, storage, public-safety technology, and software implementation and subscription costs. The amount is an authorization to spend up to $4 million, not a detailed spending plan; officials said specific spending proposals would return to the council for approval and any unused funds would not be spent. Members asked about prior cyber-incident remediation costs and possible grants, with finance staff offering to follow up on grants.

**Source:** City of New Britain