The Blenheim Senior Centre is officially debt free.
President Gaele Mifflin says they were able to pay back a $300,000 municipal loan a couple of years early.
Chatham-Kent Council had approved the interest-free bridge loan to the Senior Centre back in January of 2016, to finish construction of its new facility at 55 Jane St.
The group had until December 2018 to repay the loan, but Mifflin says they wrote their last cheque at the end of 2016.
"We were very fortunate. We're a very big group," she says. "We have 650 members now."
Part of the repayment was made by selling their old facility on Catherine St., in November of 2016. While Mifflin wouldn't disclose how much the property sold for, it was enough to rely on initiatives like bazaars, roasted chicken dinners, and the occasional fish fry to raise the remainder of the funds.
Mifflin says borrowing money interest-free from the municipality is a viable thing for community groups to do, if they know they'll be able to make loan repayments in time.
"As long as council's got the money to loan you. We planned on paying it back as soon as possible, so I guess it would also depend on how long they would give you to pay something like that back," says Mifflin. "We had three years, but we didn't want to wait three years."
The Mary Webb Centre in Highgate is also asking for an interest-free loan.
Officials there would like to receive $250,000 in bridge financing from the municipality, which would be paid off over a maximum five-year period.
Administration will be coming back to council March 20 with a report on the issue.
