The Innsbrook board continues to move forward with plans for a new village hall.
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Before their June meeting last week, Innsbrook officials held an open house for the public to view site plans and a rendering of their proposed new village hall. The designs were displayed by Jonathan McGowan of Cochran Engineering who said they went through several iterations before they arrived on the current choice.
The plan for the new village hall has been in the works for years now as the board originally approved the new village hall with a 3-2 vote at their January meeting due to the deteriorating condition of the current building as well as the discovery of mold infestation.
The new building would be much larger than the current facilities and would offer a conference room, a larger room for trustee meetings and administrative offices.
According to previous Record reporting, the village spent $45,788 on the land for the new hall.
Originally the board had applied for a loan through the USDA to cover the cost of new construction although those plans fell through. The Record previously reported that USDA officials told the village they were “not comfortable” supplying the loan to the village.
Instead the board is planning on using their funds from the American Rescue Plan Act along with some financing from First State Community Bank to foot the bill. There has been some controversy surrounding the use of the ARPA funds for the new building and at previous meetings a number of citizens have voiced their disapproval.
They felt that the funds were being misappropriated and the village could make better use of the federal dollars.
Regardless, the decision to spend the funds rests with the board and as they must be allocated by 2025, the clock is ticking.
While board chairman Dan Reuter was confident that the village had enough room in their budget to pay for the new building without additional financing, the board thought it would be irresponsible to spend that much of their reserves at once.
They are now considering several lease transaction options from First State Community Bank as Mark Spykerman with Gilmore and Bell Law Firm in St. Louis presented some of their options at the meeting.
According to Spykerman, lease transactions are a common way for municipalities to borrow money, and the lease would not include a tax increase. He offered several financing options for the village to consider.
He said the bank was willing to finance up to $950,000 for the village hall although he acknowledged that was more than the board felt the village needed. He said he had discussed a lease transaction for $750,000 with Reuter and offered two rate options.
The first would include a fixed rate of 5.75% for five years at which point the rate would reset based on the seven year US Treasury Rate. The other option was a 6.05% fixed rate for 10 years.
Both options would be payable over 20 years.
The board still has some time to make decisions about how exactly they are going to pay for the new building or to change course, as citizens continue to call for an end to the project. Regardless, board members will consider their options and work towards a decision at their July meeting.
