Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting was all about big money — how to spend it and how to pay it back.
Council decided to refinance part of a $5 million loan Monday night in an effort to pay down infrastructure improvements to East State Street. The city already paid a third of its annual commitment to pay $750,000 of the debt, but will refinance the remanding balance for this year with a local bank at a 4 percent interest rate.
The total expense of the East State Street improvements cost the city more than $6 million.
“We’ve been paying it down a number of years and we’re coming close to paying it off,” said Chris Knisely, D-at large. “It’s healthy for the city’s finances.”
Council also accepted an ordinance that will make Southside Park more assessable to disabled citizens, using up to $80,000 from a revolving loan fund to foot the bill.
Though the park meets minimal Americans with Disabilities Acts standards for accessible design, some local residents are saying the park misses a key element: a rubberized base that would allow wheelchairs to roll throughout the park.
“This is critical for wheelchair access,” said Richard Vedder, a fellow of the Rotary Club of Athens and a distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University at a previous council meeting, in a previous council meeting. “(Athens) has been somewhat deficient in providing services to our handicapped youth.”
The ordinance allows Service-Safety Director Paula Horan-Moseley to find a contractor, said Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, adding that a fully handicapped-accessible park in Athens would decrease stigma in the city.
“This is high and beneficial for members of our community,” Butler said.
Athens City Auditor Kathy Hecht also gave an update to council members about the city’s tax exemption program, which has been in place since June 1 and will continue to the end of the month.
Happy with the results of the amnesty program, Hecht said the city collected more than $20,000, which is double the anticipated amount, from 13 citizens.
“These are people we never would have had on our own,” Hecht said, referencing the city’s partnership with the Cleveland-based Central Collection Agency that led to the amnesty program. “Now they will be future tax payers.”
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