10/31/08 — “We’re very pleasantly surprised at the size of the loan we got,” said William Bragg, president of the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County.
Very pleasantly surprised, indeed. The $500,000 rural development loan, ceremonially delivered Thursday afternoon on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture by Rural Development State Director Gary Groves, increased the alliance’s $1 million Intermediary Relending Loan Fund by a full 50 percent. The local fund, which now totals $1.5 million, is used to promote economic development by making low-interest loans and guarantees available to area businesses.
In explaining the workings of the fund, Mark Turner, the alliance’s executive director, describes the USDA as playing the role of a federal bank and the alliance playing the role of a local bank. “We borrow it at 1-percent fixed interest,” he explained. “We mark it up and lend it out, still at below-conventional rates, to local businesses — and we make a margin on that.”
Although it’s officially a loan, all the federal government really expects to be paid is the interest, Groves explained. “We’re investing in rural Pennsylvania,” he said. “A majority of it is going to be paid back to the government — and it becomes a revenue stream for the treasury.”
As a result, as time goes by, the money lent out is repaid, the alliance collects a little more interest than it owes to the federal government, and the program revolves. “It’s somewhat altruistic,” Turner said. “We’re an economic development organization, but our real motive is to get our money back so we can lend it to the next person.”
“There’s never been a default,” said Republican state Sen. Bob Robbins, who represented Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English at Thurs-day’s presentation. “People are vetted properly at the local level.”
Turner agreed. “Every-body’s current,” he added. “It’s part of the Crawford County ethic, I think. When people borrow money, they intend to pay it back. And they do pay it back.”
Currently, the alliance has $850,000 loaned out, is waiting for approval on approximately another $100,000, and has funds set aside for the required 5-percent reserve, Bragg said.
According to Turner, none of the funds received are used for administrative or operating costs. “It’s all used to save or create jobs,” he said.
As for the additional funds received Thursday, “at the time of our application, which probably goes back 60 days or maybe longer, we had five local manufacturers standing in line, looking primarily for equipment lending,” Turner said. “That number is growing; it’s probably closer to eight or nine by now.”
While the alliance has a backlog of potential borrowers waiting for capital, Turner doesn’t see the lineup as being a response to the nationwide financial crisis. “Most of it is related to the growth that’s occurring in manufacturing in the region,” he said.
Groves was pleased to report that the program doesn’t include any of the now-infamous congressional earmarks. “It’s put into the agricultural appropriations in the Farm Bill,” Groves said. Although this particular funding was provided under the 2002 federal Farm Bill, he added, the program will be continued in the most recent version, which became law in June and sets priorities for the next five years.
Local News
County gains $500K loan for development
- Local News
-
-
Conneaut Lake Park roars into 120th season
Conneaut Lake Park’s 120th season is officially under way with its in-keeping-with-tradition, four-day Memorial Day weekend opening, and the “crowds are coming in,” Jack Moyers said Saturday.
-
Area communities ready to celebrate Memorial Day
Editor’s note: The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are Monday, except those in Edinboro and Shermansville, which are planned for Sunday. -
Remembering Civil War Bucktails
A glimpse into daily life of the Civil War era is easy to see in Crawford County.
-
Area Memorial Day events
The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are on Monday, except the one at Edinboro that is planned for Sunday.
-
Civil War soldiers highlight Meadville Memorial Day events
A courageous Meadville man — wounded three times but remaining on a Civil War battlefield until he was too weak to continue — is being remembered this Memorial Day as the Meadville Area Memorial Day Committee continues its mission of observing the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.
-
Police: Locals admit to killing Ohio woman
Two Cochranton women were arrested and jailed on homicide charges early Thursday after allegedly admitting they killed an Ohio woman and buried her body in a shallow grave near their residence recently.
-
Reader 'Faces' are coming in
Mom's car dash, Meadville, PA
Lucy Kedzierski, 12, looks at the face every morning waiting for school bus!
She took this with a cell phone. -
North Street Project sure to be 'very disruptive'
With the preliminary traffic control plan for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s North Street Project complete, Meadville City Manager Joe Chriest summed up the anticipated impact of the project, which is expected to span the entire 2013 construction season. “This is going to be very, very disruptive,” he said Wednesday.
-
Boat business booming in warm weather
It’s been a booming business in boats this spring, according to some area boat dealers.
-
City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade
During the past five years, Moody’s Investors Service has assigned three different ratings — all within the range of “upper medium grade” to the City of Meadville’s bonds. In 2007, the city was given a rating of A3, the lowest of the trio. In 2010, the city’s bond rating was raised to A1, the highest ranking in the “upper medium” category. Monday, Moody’s gave the city’s $10,000,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2012, which went on the market Monday, the middle rating of A2.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
