Lucas County commissioners voted at their Tuesday meeting to reissue $25.85 million in bonds tied to the downtown hotel project, using the refinancing to pay $12.4 million toward the outstanding principal.

The move is a real paydown of the hotel debt: until this year, the county had only paid the interest on the hotel bonds, rolling them over each time they came due. The county has paid $4.96 million in interest so far, with the remaining debt at an interest rate of less than 8 percent.

To make the principal payment, commissioners transferred $10.1 million from the general fund into the Capital Project Fund, which already had $2.3 million available.

The pocketbook context: the paydown comes as the county asks departments to cut budgets by 13 percent to close a projected $27 million deficit. (This refinancing is separate from the Glass City Center’s separate $400K capital request covered earlier today.)

Meanwhile, commissioners passed a resolution declaring the county’s intent to use a future bond to reimburse capital expenses — the first step toward issuing bonds for upcoming jail renovations.

The hotel project — the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites in downtown Toledo — is 20 percent owned by the county’s Economic Development Corp., with Continental Development Ventures and First Hospitality Group as managing partners.

Read The Blade’s coverage of the vote.

Image: Downtown Toledo skyline at dusk (Wikimedia Commons).