Village Council members voted 4-2 (“nays” by Michael Bracken and Ed London) during the Tuesday, Oct. 14 Village Council meeting to authorize Village Manager Steve Williamson to submit a loan application for $60 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program to beat the Dec. 11 filing deadline.
That total would be broken up into $20 million loans for each of three years, the maximum allowable.
“This does not obligate us to take a loan,” Capital Improvement Projects and Grants Manager Colleen Durfee said. “If we don’t do the project, that money would not go against our debt service.”
The total cost of a stormwater project with elevated roads, but not including the undergrounding, would be about $72 million, it was understood.
Black & Veatch helped the Village in the formulation of the application at a cost of $10,000, with another $20,000 collected if the loan is approved, Durfee explained.
Other paid consultants have helped with grant funding, Durfee said, in response to a question.
The loan generally comes in at 3.5% interest rate, “much lower than the market rate,” she added.