Knox County fiscal court votes to pay off Sportsplex loan early, cites $421,000 in interest savings

The Knox County Fiscal Court voted on June 16 to pay off the outstanding loan on the county Sportsplex, a move officials said will reduce future interest payments and relieve taxpayers of ongoing debt service.

Presiding officer (Speaker 2) said the county will save approximately $420,999.68 in interest by accelerating repayment and cited a total payoff amount of $3,801,325.32; county finance staff (Speaker 5) noted the actual payoff will be slightly lower because a recent payment has already been processed. "We've made a payment since then, so the payoff will be a little less," Speaker 5 said.

The court made the motion to proceed with the payoff and approved it by voice vote. No recorded roll-call tally with individual yes/no votes was provided in the transcript.

Officials described the payoff as the product of a multi-year effort to reduce the county's debt service burden. Speaker 2 said retiring the note early moves the county from a long-term repayment horizon into a shorter, roughly five-year plan for becoming debt-free on the facility, and called the action a "good financial decision for the county."

The motion authorizes county staff to secure the final payoff figure and execute the necessary payments; staff said they will obtain an updated payoff amount before the disbursement is finalized. The court did not record any dissent during the public motion and vote segment.

Next steps: staff will obtain and publish the updated payoff statement and proceed with payment processing as authorized by the court.