Lowndes County supervisors on Monday approved a proposal to restructure a $13 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that will save the county approximately $2 million over the life of the loan.
“Basically, it’s like a home-owner refinancing a house from 30 years to 15,” Board President Harry Sanders said.
The existing loan will be divided into two bonds — a $3 million bond for 15 years and a $10 million bond for 12 months. Two banks — Regions and Trustmark — bid on the bond purchase, with Trustmark offering a slightly lower interest rate — 2.717 to Region’s 2.8 percent.
Consultant Steve Pittman recommended the board accept Trustmark’s proposal and provided a spreadsheet that showed the county would pay $11,860 less in interest payments by accepting the Trustmark proposal. Under the agreement, the county will pay $844,650 in interest.
The USDA loan was part of a matching grant to improve infrastructure at the county’s industrial park. The county’s 45 percent match will be paid by in-lieu payments from industry, Sanders said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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