Like many familiar with the town’s history, Pellegrino alluded to Greenwich’s past struggles with debt.
“A lot of the older generation does not want to go down that road again,” he said.
Greenwich began racking up debt during the Civil War and by January 1933, bond payments consumed 27 percent of the budget, according to the town Historical Society. That year, Greenwich created a representative government, and one of its first acts was voting to fund capital projects on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.
Bond Burner
In 1954, the community paid off the last of its Civil War- era debt, declared a “year of jubilee” and burned the final $1,000 bond at a town meeting, according to a New York Times article published at the time.
The stigma against borrowing persisted into this century. In 2004, when Comptroller Peter Mynarski was interviewing for his current job, he uttered the word “bond,” only to be hushed.
“If you want to be hired, don’t use the ‘B’ word,” the interviewer said.