Lisle agrees to refinance sports complex debt

Lisle has refinanced debt it incurred for construction of the Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex after postponing the deal for more than two months.

Village trustees approved the sale Monday of roughly $3.7 million in bonds that allow the town to take advantage of lower interest rates and eliminate a large balloon payment due in eight years. The debt will continue to be repaid with money generated from the village's hotel-motel tax.

"By this action, the board has saved money and maintained the ability to pay the debt from the hotel-motel tax," Mayor Joseph Broda said in a statement. "With talk of future interest rate hikes, the timing was about as good as it gets."

Lisle borrowed $6.4 million in 2004 to pay for its share of the more than $11 million sports complex near the intersection of Yackley/College Road and Maple Avenue. The complex includes a 3,000-seat lighted football and soccer stadium with a nine-lane running track.

The village then increased the hotel-motel tax from 3 percent to 5 percent to raise the money needed to repay the loan.

By refinancing the loan, the village got lower interest rates. It also eliminated a balloon payment of roughly $2.4 million that would have been due when the previous bonds retired in 2024.

The new bond issue extends the payments to 2032. Officials estimate the village will save $1.3 million as a result.

Still, the village delayed the sale, which was supposed to happen in early June. Broda said at the time officials wanted to make sure "everything is aligned properly" before moving ahead.

Some questioned whether Lisle had the authority to refinance the debt after residents collected hundreds of signatures from registered voters to put the issue on the November ballot. But the petition drive failed to get the required 1,078 signatures before a May 26 deadline.

On Tuesday, Broda said the sports complex has been "a significant achievement" that has benefitted both the village and the university.