St. Clair gets loan to cover McGuffey project

CALCUTTA - It's time to pay the piper, and St. Clair Township Trustees voted to do just that during a special meeting Thursday morning, voting to borrow $1.3 million to complete payment for the McGuffey Drive project.

Originally, the township obtained a $1.7 million loan from the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) for the project, which provided a connector road between Dresden and St. Clair avenues, opening up a considerable portion of land for development.

According to that loan agreement, a $1.3 million balloon payment is due Oct. 1, 2008, and trustees agreed to borrow that amount from JPMorgan Chase Bank NA at an interest rate of 4.14 percent for a period of 10 years.

By Oct. 1, 2018, the township should be out of debt in regard to McGuffey Drive, according to fiscal officer Deb Dawson, who obtained quotes from several lending institutions to gain the best interest rate for the loan.

The $380,000 paid of the original loan came from Tax Increment Financing funds, according to trustees.