Springfield aldermen approved a loan for just over $4 Million to purchase fire, police, and public works vehicles and equipment that was part of this year's budget. The ordinance was put through on emergency passage Tuesday in order to lock in low interest rates with Chase Equipment Finance.
City budget director Bill McCarty says Chase had already extended a deadline from June 1st, "This is such a good deal for the city, we almost couldn't pass it up. We're talking about 1.3% interest on the five-year loan and 1.5% interest on the seven-year loan. So, it's $161,000.00 in interest over seven years."
The council ammended the ordinance to say items that will be purchased with the loan money must be approved by the city council, and must be purchased within the next year. There is no penalty for early pay-off of the loan.
posted 06/06/12 11:29am