City cedes annual bonding authority to economic development
By Kayleigh Rahn
The Tuscola City Council during its meeting Monday, April 9 assigned more than $400,000 in bonding authority to a regional economic development resource that will have a hand in financing the proposed Cronus Chemicals plant west of Tuscola.
“Each year since attaining Home Rule Status in 2003, we have transferred our unused bonding authority to the Eastern Illinois Economic Development Authority,” City Administrator Drew Hoel wrote in his monthly report.
This authority is a provision of IRS regulations, which allows Home Rule units of government to allocate a certain amount of tax-exempt bonding authority, based on population, to projects within their jurisdiction. The portion of that authority that is unused is automatically returned to the state or it can be allocated to a regional economic authority.
“As it turns out, Eastern Illinois Economic Development Authority will likely be a key participant in financing for Cronus Chemicals by assembling this tax-exempt bonding authority for their project,” Hoel wrote.
“It’s something we do every year, but this year it was something of note since there will be a project that will be affected by this,” he added during Monday’s meeting.
In other business, the council opted into a service agreement with MCC Network Services, LLC to provide internet access to city hall.
“MCC Network provides fiber optic internet service at several locations throughout town, depending on the location of their fiber optic network,” Hoel said. “One such location is across the street from city hall.”
The agreement was supported by the finance and administration committee. The transfer in service would give city hall the opportunity to eliminate a couple of phone lines with minimal cost increase.
“Because of the high cost of installation, which not pass on to us directly, there is a five-year term to the agreement,” Hoel noted.
The full story can be found in the Wednesday, April 11 edition of The Tuscola Journal.