Thanks to a refinancing of the county's debt, the Athens County commissioners will have an additional $325,000 to spend.

At their meeting yesterday, the commissioners approved the refinancing plan based on suggestions from the Athens County Auditor's Office.

As a result of the refinancing, the county's debt will increase, but its annual bill will decrease, because the debt will be paid over a longer period of time. The county was slated to pay off its debt by 2007, but with the refinancing, the debt will not be paid until 2012, Commissioner David Ratliff said.

For the refinancing, the county borrowed $525,000 for a new dog shelter and added it to the $3 million the county owes, said Deputy Auditor Alan Ferguson. The county's current debt, about $4 million, will be paid back over the next 14 years, he said.

Unlike personal debt, the county's debt is held in the form of bonds. The bonds the county has were issued in 1992 for the renovation of the Client Building, 15 S. Court St., Ferguson said.

By extending the note of the county's bonds from 2007 to 2012, the bonds' interest rate was lowered from 6 percent to 4 percent, Ratliff said. The 2 percent interest rate saved is equivalent to $32,000 a year, he said.

The extra $325,000, which will be moved from the debt fund to the general fund Thursday, is a result of money the refinancing has made available, Commissioner Bill Theisen said. This money, initially reserved for debt payment, will allow the commissioners to spend the money in different areas, Ferguson said.

This money will be used partly to address additional funding requests from the Board of Elections, Municipal Court, Juvenile Court, Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the Athens County Sheriff's Department, he said.

The sheriff's department, which has been under financial duress for almost two months, is scheduled to deplete its payroll accounts Nov. 7, Theisen said.

The commissioners will address the sheriff's department issue at the Nov. 3 county commissioner meeting, he said.