HERMITAGE, PA. Panel to look into plan to save on '99 bond issue

Mentally ill people will be treated at a house on Richmond Drive.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- City commissioners think they may have found a way to save between $160,000 and $200,000 over the next 16 years.
City Manager Gary Hinkson said the city should look at refinancing a $6.3 million bond issue borrowed in January 1999 to finance the remodeling and expansion of the city building as well as make improvements to two fire stations and the city garage.
Hinkson brought the refinancing plan up during a commissioners work session Thursday, saying the city's financial adviser told him that interest rates have dropped to the point where refinancing the loan could save between $160,000 and $200,000 in interest payments.
The current loan runs for 20 years at an average annual interest rate of 4.638 percent.
Total payback under that arrangement will be about $9.5 million.
Hinkson said the refinancing can be structured in a number of ways, including simply lowering the annual debt payments on the loan or by taking all of the interest savings in cash up front.
Hinkson said he will have the city's financial adviser come to a commissioners' meeting to explain the plan.
Other business
In other matters, commissioners:
UIndicated they will support a request from Paul Murcko of Mercer asking the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to transfer a liquor license from a former Sharon bar to Murcko's proposed new restaurant in the former Veterans of Foreign Wars Lodge at 3601 E. State St.
A land development plan for Murcko's family-style restaurant will also be on the agenda for the commissioners' approval Wednesday. The restaurant will have seating for 87 diners.
UHeard a request for a letter of support from Community Counseling Center of Mercer County for a plan to buy a house on Richmond Drive as a residence for three people. Angelo Stamoolis, the center's executive director, said the housing will be for people diagnosed with mental health disorders.
The state will pay the center $185,000 a year to operate and provide counseling at the residence plus another $125,000 in start-up funds, Stamoolis said.
The center needs the city's letter of support in its bid for a $32,500 grant from the Mercer County Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help get the residence ready for occupancy, he said.
UAgreed to vote Wednesday on a name change for Gateway Commerce Park, a planned technical parking facility being developed along Pa. Route 18 just south of U.S. Route 62. The city is a partner in the project, owning half of the park land.
The Hermitage Economic Development Commission has recommended that the name be changed to LindenPointe, after the linden trees that are being planted throughout the grounds, because there is already a Gateway business park in Lawrence County and a major computer company named Gateway.