To make things even easier…I went ahead and used the spigot_server.jar from the http://getspigot.org site. That way you can test “apples to apples”.
[20:42:37] [Server thread/INFO]: This server is running CraftBukkit version git-Spigot-fdc1440-53fac9f (MC: 1.8.8) (Implementing API version 1.8.8-R0.1-SNAPSHOT)
This appears to be the same version number that I had built using build tools, but at least now you know it is not a ‘build’ issue with my jar.
I am still getting the same ECONNREFUSED error.