Low interest rates have Greenfield eyeing $11M loan for road work

Greenfield - An aggressive road rehabilitation program is being proposed in Greenfield that would cost the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 roughly $82 more per year in property taxes.

Because interest rates and even contractor prices are so low due to the down economy, city officials are thinking of lumping road projects that are scheduled to be done over the next seven years into the next two. Then there would be a hiatus when no work is done.

Based on interest rates alone, if Greenfield borrowed the nearly $11 million needed for all the road projects at today's rates, it could save $2 million over the 15-year life of the loan, said Richard Sokol, director of neighborhood services.

"If we're going to do the projects anyway, why not lock in low interest rates?" he said.

Current rates are about 2 percent compared with usual rates that hover about 5.5 percent, he said.

But the decision won't be easy because times are hard.

"That's a tough decision for our Common Council and mayor to make," he said.

City officials are just starting to consider the proposal and whether people can afford the road plan.

If approved, streets from corner to corner of Greenfield would see construction, Sokol said. The largest and most intense activity would be in the Lynndale neighborhood, basically from 35th Street to Loomis Road and north of Howard Avenue, he said. Roads in that area are long overdue for reconstruction.

The nearly $11 million in projects are split up into four phases, so the council can do some and not others, he said. Each phase is about $2.5 million.