The Village of Ellsworth is going to save some money by refinancing Tax Incremental Financing debt it learned at its monthly meeting Monday night.

The TIF debt was used for infrastructure costs to help development in the village. In the TIF district, tax money generated within the boundaries of the district pay off debt used to pay for infrastructure and development costs.

The village’s bonding firm, Ehlers Public Finance Advisors had hoped to bring in a refinancing plan at an interest rate of 2-2.5 percent. The village and village board members were very pleasantly surprised to learn of a proposal from First National Community Bank of New Richmond to refinance $1,111,000 in debt at an interest rate of 1.48 percent.

In its 2012 debt issue, the village pays about $100,000 in principal and interest. The new plan will save $10,00 a year, which comes to $120,000 over the life of the loan. A second issue that is combined will save the village $17,000 over five remaining payments.

Closing on the refinancing will be April 1.

“Have you ever seen interest rates this low?” asked village board member Neil Gulbranson. “It’s a no-brainer.”

The vote to refinance the debt was unanimous.

The board also gave Village Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer Nicole Stewart the go-ahead to plan to hold the spring election in Pierce County’s Seyforth Building.

The village held its November election in that building.

“If we have a lot of people, it’s going to be crowded in there, and it’s a hard place to spread out and count,” Stewart said.

Gulbranson, who also serves on the Pierce County Board, said he contacted county Administrative Coordinator Jason Matthys, and the building is available that day.

“I contacted Jason to make sure they weren’t using it for vaccinations or court backup, and it’s free that day,” said Gulbranson.

Stewart said that every battle will have to be handcounted, as there are two write-in seats available on the village board. Current board members Becky Beissle and Michael Steele are running for village president, as longtime president Gerald DeWolfe isn’t seeking re-election. Trustee Lance Austin is seeking re-election, but Gulbranson and Curt Wandemacher are not. No one filed to be on the ballot for those positions, so they’ll be open for writein candidates.

“So essentially with the spring election, we need to count every single ballot looking for wrote-ins, so we were thinking for the election, if we could go to the Seyforth building, we could have a bigger space to do that,” said Stewart.

Renting the building will be paid for with funds the village was paid to conduct an audit of its November election.

“We were paid a little over $600, so that’s what we earned from that. I believe it’s $451 to rent it,” Stewart said.