By KEVIN NEVERS

Only hours after the Chesterton Town Council voted to accept the 3.84 financing rate offered by De Lage Landen Public Finance LLC for a new aerial truck for the Chesterton Fire Department, Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski learned that De Lage had bumped that rate to 3.99 percent.

That means that the low quote was made by LaPorte Savings, which offered a rate of 3.95 percent, Polakowski told the Chesterton Tribune today.

The council will hold a special meeting at 12 p.m. Friday to discuss the new financing landscape.

Under the original 3.84 rate offered by De Lage, the town would have paid a total of $133,865.40 in interest on the $759,950 aerial, to be manufactured by Central States Fire Apparatus LLC, for a total cost over the life of the 10-year agreement of $893,815.40.

After making a down payment of at least $150,000—with a combination of Cumulative Capital Development (CCD) moneys and $100,000 committed by Westchester Township—the town would have made an annual payment of $73,386.54: $25,000 from CCD and $48,396.54 from Rainy Day.

Polakowski was unable to say how much the increased rate of 3.95 percent would affect the total interest to be paid. But, she noted, “it should be slight.”

Posted 4/30/2008