Linn supervisors approve $20,000 for business fund

Linn County will provide $20,000 toward an expanded six-county business loan program, supervisors decided Thursday morning.

The agency administering the program has collected pledges from other local governments, banks, and other agencies to eliminate the need for a more expensive commitment.

"I think we're there," Doug Elliott, director of the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG), told supervisors. "I'm pretty confident of that."

Elliott told supervisors Monday morning he needed to raise $195,000 to meet the federal Economic Development Administration's (EDA) requirement for a 6.25-percent local match for a $3 million expansion of a revolving loan fund created to help businesses after the June 2008 flood.

The money to supplement the original $1.8 million fund only became available May 27, after the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce dropped its plans for a business "innovation center." The EDA decided to transfer $3 million earmarked for that project to boost ECICOG's loan program, but the local match had to be pledged by Tuesday.

Supervisors were wary of guaranteeing the full $195,000 local match, but Elliott told them that's no longer needed. He said Johnson County supervisors approved a grant of $10,000 to $15,000, and he's in the process of finalizing sufficient pledges to meet the deadline.

With Lu Barron and Brent Oleson absent, supervisors approved the county's $20,000 contribution from its $150,000 economic development fund.

Elliott said he hopes to release a complete list of pledges to the revolving fund this afternoon.

The supervisors also formally approved the county's new contract with the Cedar Valley Humane Society for animal control services in unincorporated areas. The county will  pay Cedar Valley a monthly fee of $6,250, with an additional $75 "call-out" fee for each case handled by the agency's animal control officers.

The county's current flat annual rate of $60,000 hasn't changed since 1998.