$1 million amassed for startup business loans in County

CARIBOU – A program designed to help small Aroostook County businesses get off the ground starts this week with $1 million in a revolving loan fund.

The first of what is expected to be more federal and state dollars to flow into the area arrived because big chunks of The County have been named a federal empowerment zone.

The checks, a $750,000 loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $200,000 grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, were rounded up to $1 million with a $50,000 infusion from the Northern Maine Development Commission.

The money will create a $1 million revolving loan program for existing or future business and community development projects. The aim is to create jobs in Aroostook County.

“These additional funds will allow business greater financial opportunities for increased investment in our region,” Robert Clark, the commission’s executive director, said Friday.

Michael Aube, state director of USDA Rural Development, said the long-term, low-interest loan program allows for expansion decisions to be made locally.

“The empowerment zone designation is a commitment by Rural Development to participate fully with NMDC to achieve the goals and strategies that will improve economic opportunities for the citizens and communities of this area,” Aube said.

The $200,000 grant from the state is the local match for the USDA money.

The USDA money, according to Duane Walton, the commission’s director of business finance, is repayable over a 30-year period at 1 percent interest. There are no principal payments to the USDA for three years to allow the development commission to build a repayment portfolio.

Walton said 75 percent of the $1 million is for projects in the designated empowerment zone. The zone covers about 29,000 residents and 770 square miles. It includes part of Houlton and runs north toward Madawaska. The remainder of the money can be used elsewhere in Aroostook County.

Over the years, the NMDC has provided more than $20 million in loans to assist projects. The commission works with banks and credit unions to fund projects.

“The demand from businesses continues,” Walton said Friday. “With these funds we create jobs in Aroostook County.”

It took Aroostook County more than three years and many tries to get Rural Development to designate it an empowerment zone. The designation is designed to bring millions of federal dollars to attract businesses and jobs to the region. It also enables the area to apply for millions of dollars more.

The NMDC application for Aroostook County was one of only two selected this year in the third round of designations. The County is the only Rural Development empowerment zone in the Northeast.

New funding will come in the form of $2 million to $4 million a year for each of the next 10 years to assist communities, local government agencies and businesses with services, building projects and planning and as seed money or to help leverage other partners for projects ranging from social services and health care to education and economic development. The money also may be used for such things as tax credits, tax-exempt financing and other federal tax benefits designed to stimulate economic growth.

The designation also allows the NMDC to apply for other federal funds, such as a share of about $42 million that is available for rural business and economic development.