So, I have the NEW amortization schedule in my hands, thanks to a very efficient City secretary.
As I stated before, the OLD loan only had about $133,000 remaining in interest payments over the next 9 years (total interest of $377,000 minus the $244,000 already paid over the last 6 years).
That is now out the window. The balance of the ORIGINAL loan ($885,652.00) will now be re-amortized at the old interest rate of 3.35% and extended another ten years – which will cost the taxpayers $340,882
So the LEDC went from only owing another $133k to now owing $340k in interest over the life of that $1.35 million dollar loan- thus fattening bank coffers by an additional roughly $207,000 in tax dollars.
Thus, that original loan for “pipes in the ground” of $1,340,000 will NOT cost the taxpayers $1,722,000 as originally stated back in 2015. It will now cost the taxpayers very close to $2 million total, after all is said and done.
Why would the LEDC just bend over and take it up the pipe like this? Why put the taxpayer on the hook for ANOTHER $207,000 in interest payments for no reason whatsoever?
Well, for starters, morons like TJ Monroe and Misti Talbert sit on the LEDC board. I mean, you couldn’t try to NEGOTIATE a bit? Maybe say “Hey, we agree to all your terms EXCEPT the loan extension – we don’t want to keep shelling out money for an extra TEN YEARS”.
Nah. Nobody negotiates anything when it comes to tax dollars. It’s all play money to imbeciles like TJ Monroe.
Let’s not forget that the NEW $1,500,000 loan from BancorpSouth will cost the taxpayers roughly $560,000 in interest payments over the life of THAT loan.
So we are now looking at $4,000,000.00 to get the ‘business’ park “shovel ready”, apparently, if you just look at the cost of those two loans taken out since 2015.
But there’s more!
Pope Eckermann himself guestimated the cost of Phase I Phase II to be around $1.9 million – with a 10% contingency thrown in there. Those numbers were arrived at in Jan 2020 (see page 4) – 18 months ago! I GUARANTEE you the new cost will be north of $2.3 million before all is said and done.
[** UPDATED Feb 2022: new cost was $2.75 million**]
Guys like Pope Eckermann are not stupid. Once the big $2 million dollar project is well underway, the LEDC and City council will not even blink at a few “cost increases” of $60,000 here and $86,000 there. That’s how these things work. He knows that morons like Chuck Williamson and Total Joke Monroe will fall victim to the Sunk Cost Fallacy, because they have done so repeatedly in the past.
So, the LEDC is on the hook for the difference between the loan amount of $1.5 million and the actual, final cost of construction – which could be $2.3 million or more.
If history is any guide, it will be more. Much more.
So that’s ANOTHER $800,000 thrown in for good measure. We’re at $4.8 million now.
The original cost of the 150 acres was $909,835 as well – back in October of 2003. Terms of THAT loan (see page 14) were to borrow $1.1 million for 15 years at 7% (later refinanced down to 4.95% but not sure when that happened).
Why borrow $1.1 million when the land cost $909,835? Well, probably for some pocket change!
THAT loan matured in November of 2019 and over the course of the loan, the LEDC paid approximately $460,000 in interest payments. So the land they bought for $909,835 ACTUALLY cost the taxpayers $1,560,000.00
Roughly $6.3 million is what this debacle will have cost the taxpayers by the year 2040, JUST from these loans. I have no doubt they will decide in ten more years that they need a Phase III or Phase IV.
I’d love to hear what City council thinks about this absolute waste of money. Not TJ Monroe, of course. I couldn’t care less what she thinks, as she has shown herself to be a fool over and over and she sits on the LEDC board.
Maybe the NEW council members could chime in on this at their next meeting.