Marseilles council explores saving $150,000 in interest payments

A plan to refinance an existing loan could potentially save the city of Marseilles more than $150,000 in interest over the next decade.

The hypothetical refunding scenario prepared for the city by Bernardi Securities of Chicago estimates that Marseilles could save $153,687 in interest through 2030 on a $2,965,549 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency loan.

“Basically, what we’re doing is we’re looking at one of our loans and refinancing in the short run,” Commissioner Bobby Kaminski said at Wednesday City Council meeting.

He later added, “This is roughly going to save us about $150,000 over the 10 years in interest that we’ve been paying.”

The council approved, 5-0, moving forward in the process but ultimately will not have to decide whether to make the move until closer to the mid-March closing or beyond, depending on interest rates.

In other business, the City Council approved by a 5-0 vote to issue up to borrow $305,000 for improvements to City Hall as well as street and sidewalk construction. The item previously had been placed on file for public inspection at its Jan. 6 meeting.