During the Public Comment position of the Marshall County Council meeting, Monday Commissioner Kevin Overmyer and County Attorney Jim Clevenger said representatives from Barns and Thornburg and Baker Tilly held a zoom meeting last week, and with the interest rate increasing they advised not refinancing the jail bonds.
Clevenger said if there is interest from the council in “cashing in” the bonds or paying them off in August, there is a process they need to complete.
Overmyer said Regions Bank would like to know before July 15th if the county will pay the bonds off in August or continue with the current bond payments. The council and commissioners would need to pass resolutions to pay off the bonds and notify the DLGF and the Department of Revenue. Overmyer said the principal due right now is $5,030,000 and with what the county has in the debt reserve fund to total funds needed to pay off the bond would be $3,935,844.07.
Councilman Jesse Bohannon said he had no desire to pay the bonds off early until there is a long-term funding solution in place.
Councilman Jim Masterson said he said if there was a way to pay the bonds down but not off until there is funding in place for the jail’s daily operations.
Councilman Jon VanVactor said, “So we went from the fact that you two (Bohannon & Harmon) wanted this paid off way back before the time you came here because you wanted to use the excess money for roads. Now you don’t want to pay it off until you find a way to extend the Special LIT. Is that what I’m hearing?”
Bohannon and Harmon both said they have been wanting to pay the bonds once a funding source is found for the jail for the last year or two.
VanVactor said, “You went down to the General Assembly and asked them to withhold putting that into a jail fund.”
Councilman Tim Harmon publicly stated, “I don’t support paying off the jail bond without an extension of the rate in some form or another, rather it is .15, .2 or .25. I’ve made that very clear.”
Councilman Jim Masterson said there has to be something in place to fund the jail expenses one way or the other.
Commissioners Overmyer said he just wanted to share the information he received from the financial consultants and attorneys.
