Sinking Fund Commissioner

Sinking fund commissioners managed the funds the town set aside each year to pay off its long-term bonds when they came due. There were three separate commissions, each of three members, and this position covers all of them:

Town Hall Sinking Fund (1894-1919): established in 1894 under Chapter 310 of the Acts of 1894 to retire the $30,000 of 25-year bonds issued for the new Town Hall, due April 1, 1919. The first commissioners, Franklin Jaquith, Frederic A. Morey and Charles H. Kohlrausch, Jr., were chosen for one, two and three years from March 19, 1894, and one member was elected each year after that for three years. The commission last appears in the officer lists for 1919, and in 1920 the town moved the fund's small leftover balance into the Water Bond Sinking Fund.

School House (Loan) Sinking Fund (1901-1922): established by the March 1901 town meeting to retire the $25,000 of 20-year bonds for the new school house at North Billerica (the Talbot School, so town warrants often call it the Talbot School Sinking Fund). John A. Richardson, Allen Bottomley and Joseph F. Talbot were chosen first, and from 1902 one member was elected each year for three years. In 1921 the water commissioners bought the fund's bonds for the Water Works Sinking Fund, and the commission last appears in the officer list for 1922.

Water Bond Sinking Fund (listed 1901-1913): the fund for the $90,000 of 30-year water bonds of 1898. Its commissioners were the sitting water commissioners, and they appear as a separate board in the town officer lists from the 1902 report through the 1913 report.

The Town Treasurer and Finance Committee handled town debt after these funds were wound up.