FARMINGTON — Farmington Select Board members adopted a penny-discontinuation policy June 23 to prepare town offices for a possible shortage of exact change.
The policy allows all town transactions to be rounded to the nearest 5 cents. The version approved by the board calls for rounding up.
Franklin Savings Bank recently informed the town it would no longer provide pennies, Town Manager Erica LaCroix said, “So, the time is upon us.”
New pennies are no longer being produced because each one costs 3.69 cents to make, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Pennies already in circulation remain legal tender, and the Federal Reserve plans to keep recirculating them while supplies last.
Treasury’s nonbinding guidance recommends rounding only cash transactions and using both upward and downward adjustments. Farmington’s policy, as described during the meeting, permits rounding for all transactions and calls for rounding up.
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