Harvey library eyeing lower bond interest rate, board president says
Anthony McCaskill, whose landscaping company provides free services to the library, introduced a plan to utilize savings in the general fund to pay off its bond interest that he said will lower its interest rate and shorten the mortgage.
A plan to apply savings toward bond interest could generate a shorter mortgage for Harvey’s library, according to Harvey library board president Anthony McCaskill.
This spring, the board of trustees unanimously approved a plan to apply $180,000 in savings shored up through a peculiar source: free lawn care provided by board president McCaskill. According to the president, the library has saved that amount since shifting lawn care and snow removal services to his company in 2021.
“My lawn care service has not charged the Harvey library one dime,” president McCaskill said at the board’s regular meeting on March 13. “My original agreement was that I was supposed to get salt, fertilizer, and mulch paid for, but I’ve never sent in one invoice for any reimbursement.”
The move will cut the bond interest rate from roughly 10.1 percent to “roughly 7.9,” percent, McCaskill said. If such a payment is made every year for three years, it would also shorten the 45-year mortgage term to 32 years, he said.
The money will come out of the library’s general fund, McCaskill said, and will specifically be applied toward bond interest only, not the principal amount. There’s two accounts, McCaskill said. One is for escrow, at an estimated $661,000, which cannot be used and is to be used in case the property tax revenues don’t materialize from the library’s levying.
The other account is for debt service, an estimated $321,000, McCaskill said. The savings will be applied to that account, cutting the interest rate on the bond, specifically, McCaskill explained to treasurer Chapelle Hooks.
Bonds are effectively loans. An issuer, in this case Harvey Public Library District, will sell its debt to investors. Investors effectively loaned the library money to finance construction.
In 2015, the bond was issued for a principal of $6 million, with a premium of $925,080, according to financial data and documents available from the Electronic Municipal Market Access, a division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The total project cost, including underwriting, would be an estimated $6.9 million. Since 2017, Harvey library makes a payment every year on the principal plus interest to investors until December 2032, when the loan expires. The interest payment, expressed as a percentage of the principal amount, is 7.1 percent, according to EMMA. Most recently, Harvey library made a $345,000 payment to Regions Bank, its bondholder, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Staffing and reports
President McCaskill also responded to an HWH report regarding his wife Kisha McCaskil, where she’s raked in tens of thousands of dollars working as a library consultant while her husband is board president.
“There’s been a lot of conversation, a lot of talk within the media outlets, about Harvey Public Library, some of the staffing,” McCaskill said. “I want to thank, firstly, Janet Spencer and Dr. Kisha McCaskill for everything they have done to put us at a point where we can actually have money in the bank, but also, we can cut a lot of the old staff that we had.”
But the public response to the report has been scathing. On social media, commenters called the setup a “rip off,” “conflict of interest,” and “nepotism at its finest.” One reader even said Kisha McCaskill, a county commissioner representing the south suburbs and a few neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side, should be arrested.
The library hasn’t accepted rentals in its space under the direction of its consultant from as early as December of last year, according to IT manager Sam Hentz.
One board member appeared unaware of that directive. “[The consultant] said we’re not doing rentals?” Hooks asked.
President McCaskill directed Hentz to revise the rental contract and submit it to the board for review by March 17. McCaskill said he will call a special meeting for the board to reconvene and approve the new rental contract to get back on track.
The rest of Hentz’ report was saved for executive session, as he alluded to personnel issues.
New administrator Carol Morris was slated to make an appearance and introduction on the night’s agenda, but due to a family emergency, she was not present. According to a report read by Spencer, Morris began her onboarding with the library on Feb. 19 and officially started March 10.
President McCaskill interrupted the reading of Spencer’s report to resume during the executive session as it was a personnel matter.
We’re filling the void after the collapse of local newspapers decades ago. But we can’t do it without reader support.
Help us continue to publish stories like these
Author
Related Articles
HWH files lawsuit against Harvey library over financial records
The Harvey Public Library District rejected the release of over a year’s worth of bills lists, documents crucial to examining the public body’s spending behavior.
Harvey library board votes to ‘vacate the seat’ of trustee Tamika Price, prompting lawsuit
A law firm connected to the McCaskill family, which now runs the city’s library and park districts, was tapped to investigate the trustee. Pending those findings, the board vacated her seat. Now, she and another trustee are suing.
Harvey library trustee reports board president to state attorney general over outstanding public records requests
As the McCaskill family seizes influence over the city’s library, trustees are resorting to filing public records requests, seeking state intervention, and suing the library to fulfill their duties as library fiduciaries.
