Cookeville Paying Off 3 Bonds

Cookeville will save interest and fees by paying off three variable rate notes early.

A total of $3.65 million in notes will be paid in full. Finance Director Brenda Imel said the city has benefited from bonds over the years, but they do carry risk.

“The financial markets have had volatile swings in the past few months due to the economic uncertainties caused by the pandemic,” Imel said.

Imel said the city will save about $60,000 in fees. Because of the volatility of the market, Imel said the amount of interest saved cannot be determined

The largest note is an electrical department bond that the city issued in October, 2008. It has a remaining amount of $2,050,000. The other two notes were issued in May, 2007 and December, 2008. Each has roughly $800,000 outstanding. Those two notes will be paid by some $14 million available in the debt service fund.