from Columbia news, views & reviews – March 2, 2019

Where there’s a will … | The lead paragraph in an article in today’s LNP – Always Lancaster says,

“State officials remain adamant that Lancaster’s City Revitalization & Improvement Zone authority is not allowed to set up a revolving loan program for small businesses.

“But the state concedes the CRIZ program may disburse grants. So this week, the CRIZ board voted to set aside $250,000 for a small-business grant fund.”

Are you CRIZY? | This mandated shift will allow for grants for small businesses. But CRIZ leaders are going to petition the state to allow “revolving loan programs” to fit into the state’s narrative. The article continues that, to date, the revolving loan program has only been used by large corporations for hotel projects. Here’s a link to a slew of state “programs and funding plans.”

A Lancaster Online article from October 29, 2018 explained, “State opposes Lancaster’s plan to add small-business loan program to CRIZ.”

from Columbia news, views & reviews – January 17, 2019

Revolving Loan Programs: What are they? There are lots of claims that flutter about. We “googled” and went pages deep to find out more about REVOLVING LOAN FUNDS and looked into other Lancaster County borough codes to find information.

Here’s what we found:

• Of the larger boroughs in the County we found one with a revolving loan program in its ordinances.
• We found this at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development: https://dced.pa.gov/?s=revolving+loan+fund
• “Governor Wolf Approves Support for 22 Community Revitalization Projects Throughout Pennsylvania” | “Community development has so many benefits for our municipalities, including improving the lives of local residents and attracting businesses to grow the local economy,” Governor Wolf said. “The Keystone Communities program encourages that development.”
• This Website has lots of information about REVOLVING LOAN PROGRAMS.
• There are lots of Revolving Loan Programs and webinars to learn more: https://www.cdfa.net/cdfa/cdfaweb.nsf/pages/edarlfprogram.html?open&section=Webcast#webcastTitle.
• Kennett Square has one.
• Millvalle has one.
• West Chester has one.
• Gettysburg has its Gettysburg Residential Revolving Loan Fund for Code Enforcement.
• Here’s how a Wisconsin small town, population: (4,897) publicly announced the formation of its Revolving Loan Program.
• And here’s how Erie, PA publicly announces its REVOLVING LOAN PROGRAM.
• Community First Fund was established in 1992.
• Community First Fund’s Vice President of Real Estate Lending was awarded a $75,800 consulting assignment for the borough at a special borough meeting on  November 28, 2016.
• AIM Advisors, LLC is registered as a corporation with the Pennsylvania Department of State the next day, November 29, 2016.