In Plymouth, County Commissioners vote to impose a hiring freeze at their meeting on the 13th.
This, because a great deal of the County’s revenue is based on income from real estate transactions—and the quantity of those transactions has significantly decreased because of continuing high interest rates.
WATD’s Bobbi Clark has more….
Jared Valanzola is Chair of the County Commissioners:
“As folks know it’s a very difficult market right now, and our budgeting projections are coming in at approximately nine hundred thousand dollars below projections. One of the measures that we are taking is to have a hiring freeze. Should there be a potential vacancy that is vital to the operation of a department, then the Commissioners will handle those on a case by case basis.”
Valanzola says there has been a notable decline…
“…over the last year and a half with rates being high, not only in real estate transactions but anything that’s recorded at the Registry of Deeds especially. So, refinances when mortgage rates were at two and two and a half percent—a lot of folks were refinancing and that increased our revenue.”
Now, the interest rate for a 20 year fixed rate is 7.19% and for a 15 year fixed rate 6.73%.
In Plymouth, Bobbi Clark, WATD News.
