The Bradley Village Board took another step in setting up financing for its proposed $81 million water park during Monday’s meeting.

Trustees approved moving forward with selling $51 million in bonds.

Their approval came after a public hearing held before the regular meeting. There was neither public comment during the meeting nor via written correspondence.

“We’ll have up to three years to sell bonds in the amount of $51 million to finance this project,” Finance Director Rob Romo told trustees.

Romo and Mayor Mike Watson said they are waiting to see if interest rates on bonds move lower next year. That is the reason for holding off on the bond sale.

“I think these interest rates are going to drop, so we’re not in a big hurry to go out and get that yet, so it’d be nice if interest rates drop by maybe a percent,” Watson said.

”I don’t know, that might be wishful thinking, but you know, that means a lot of dollars at the end of the day in interest that our taxpayers would save and wouldn’t come out of the business sales tax fund.”

Romo and Watson said they believe the current interest rate on bonds will fall below 4%, hopefully by mid-2026.

Trustees also approved an ordinance for a $6 million line of credit with Midland States Bank.

This would be used in conjunction with the water park project, Watson said.

“If something were to occur and we hadn’t gone out the bonds yet, we could tap into that line of credit to pay any bills that were associated with it,” Watson said after the meeting.

In March, trustees approved the sale of about $29 million of bonds – payable over 20 years – to fund the 2-acre development, which will be located on the site of the Northfield Square mall.

In February, the village purchased the mall for $6.5 million from Namdar Realty Group of Great Neck, New York.