Wheeling trustees learned Monday night that a substantial portion of the additional $6 million they have committed to Mark Smith’s struggling Prairie Park condominium project can come from cash on hand without the need for bond sales.

In July, trustees approved a deal between the village, Smith and MB Financial, the lender to whom Smith owes about $26 million in overdue construction loans.

The deal calls for MB to pay an estimated $2.5 million to build a long-promised clubhouse for the project and to complete a ring road around the four buildings at 700 N. Wolf Road. The village is to reimburse the bank when construction is complete.

When the deal was approved, village officials expected to sell tax-increment financing revenue bonds to raise the $2.5 million. But Finance Director Michael Mondschain said Monday that no bond sale is needed, since the money is available already in a tax-increment financing account funded by the Prairie Park project.

Village officials said using available cash could save the village more than $1 million in combined bond fees and interest.

The village is to pay an additional $3.5 million in TIF funds to MB over four or more years on a per-unit basis as condominium units are sold.

Mondschain said Monday the cash was available because several projects for which TIF money was earmarked have been delayed by the downturn in the economy.

“Since we have cash on hand, it makes sense to use it now for this,” Mondschain said.

Trustee Dean Argiris pointed out that the Prairie Park project is “paying for this” because the money in the TIF fund is coming from growth in real estate values fueled by the project – not from general taxpayers in Wheeling.

The additional $6 million will eventually bring the village’s total investment in the project to $10.5 million. There are 240 condominiums in the four completed buildings, of which more than 70 remain unsold.