State fund loan would save county $5 million in interest

Whitman County could face as much as $5 million in additional interest payments if it misses out on a state loan to help build infrastructure at the long-proposed Hawkins shopping center on this side of the state line. The extra interest expense would derive from interest costs in the event the county had to put up its part of the deal through a bond issue.

The county is waiting for the legislature to approve an $11 million loan from the state’s Public Works Trust Fund.

The county has committed to build $15 million worth of streets and water and sewer lines for the Boise-based company’s 714,00...