Aldermen in Monmouth are directing city administrators to look into refinancing some ten-year-old bonds.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher says that interest rates are significantly lower than what they were in 2010 and by refinancing at a lower rate, they could save a huge chunk of change.
“The interest rates have gone down between the year 2010 when we first issued those bonds and today. The interest rates are much lower,” Steinbrecher tells WGIL. “We can save a little over $40,000 a year even with the financing costs to reissue the bonds.”
Steinbrecher says that with ten years still left on the bonds, that would lead to savings of over $400,000 for the remainder of the repayment term.
Aldermen approved Steinbrecher to proceed with discussions on the refinancing of the bonds and will be considering the approval of the refinance at a later meeting.
In other action from Monday’s city council meeting, aldermen approved a pair of facade grants for two downtown properties.
The first grant for $7,500 was for Becky Shearer, who owns JB’s Woodshed on 1st Avenue. According to council documents, the business had invested $76,000 in improvements.
Those improvements include removal of the covering over the transom area, replacing it with windows to match the original storefront, replacing the awning with a new one, replacing the lower plywood area under the awning with brick, and enlarging the window area in the lower half with new, larger windows.
The other grant, this one being $7,000, went to Brian Miller, who owns the former YMCA building on East 1st Avenue. The building currently operates as both residential apartment rentals and a cold storage facility, according to Administrator Steinbrecher.
Council documents say that the city is investing in the rehab of the old building as long as the owner agrees to undertake a roof replacement in the next year, which is estimated to cost about $10,000.
