The city of Oglesby was granted $1,345,000 in unused low-cost bond authority by the La Salle County Board at its meeting Monday.

The bond authority will sweeten $6 million in bonds Oglesby plans to issue next month for a variety of municipal projects. Those include construction of a new water tower, expansion of the sewage treatment plant and work on stormwater and sewer lines.

Last year the county received the authority through the federal stimulus program to parcel out $7 million in Recovery Zone Economic Bonds.

The advantage of the Recovery Zone Economic Bonds is they offer a subsidy of 45 percent of their interest costs, versus the typical 35 percent.

All local governments in La Salle County, including townships and school districts, were eligible to apply for the bonds. But requests only were received from the cities of Ottawa, Peru and La Salle.

Ottawa was granted $2.5 million, Peru $3.8 million and La Salle $697,000.

Peru, it turned out, used only $2.5 million of its authority, so Oglesby applied for the unused portion.

Oglesby Mayor Tony Torres, who was present, thanked the county board for the bond authority.

The county also received the authority through the federal stimulus program to authorize $10.5 million in tax-exempt Recovery Zone Facility Bonds for businesses.

In January, the county board authorized $3.2 million of the bonds for the expansion of both Bill Walsh Honda — acquired in May — and Bill Walsh Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Kia — acquired in December.

The bonds are not issued or backed by the county, but by private financing. Because they are tax-exempt, they lower project costs.

The rest of the bond authority is still available, but expired in December.