The Jefferson city council last week approved moving forward with the application for a $1 million loan from the Iowa Finance Authority to facilitate construction of rental housing without a making a decision to accept the loan should it be approved.
If comments Gov Terry Branstad made at a town hall meeting in Jefferson Tuesday are an indicator, the council will need to decide whether to take on debt for that purpose.
About 20 persons were present at the noon town hall meeting at Pizza Ranch. Branstad spoke for about 20 minutes, using notes and primarily listing accomplishments of his administration. He mentioned a personal accomplishment – losing 15 pounds to reduce his risk of diabetes as his own part in Iowa’s Healthiest State initiative. He told of meeting Xi Jinping, president of China, at a trade summit in Seattle, WA, last month, and of giving him a copy of a photo taken of the two of them in Branstad’s office in 1985 when Xi Jinping visited Iowa as the head of an agricultural delegation.
During the question and answer time that followed, Greene County Development Corp executive director Ken Paxton updated Branstad on the employer-educator summit hosted by Midwest Partnership in September and on the career fair at Greene County High School earlier this month. “What you’re doing is exactly what they ought to be doing everywhere in Iowa,” Branstad said.
Paxton then spoke of the Iowa Finance Authority’s “small, little program,” telling the governor, “I want you to understand how really important that is.”
Branstad said the program, which has an allocation of $5 million this year, was the topic of his weekly press conference Monday. He said he was asked at the press conference whether the money would all go to large counties. “I said ‘no,’” Branstad said. “I used your county, I used Greene County as an example. I said ‘I’ve been there. I know the growth. I know the need that’s there, and this is exactly…’ I’m hopeful that you’re successful.”
Branstad and Paxton talked about the need for housing to accompany job growth in small towns. “It’s a modest start, $5 million. Hopefully it’s going to help,” Branstad said about the IFA program. “Hopefully you guys can lead the way as you have with Home Base Iowa. I’m excited about what I see going on here. I really like that career fair you did.”
Applications for the loan program are due in early November. The loans are at 1 percent interest over 20 years. If Jefferson is approved and accepts the loan, it would be used for the Water Tower rental project planned by JCorp. The city council would determine how much to grant to JCorp with no repayment expected, and how much to lend to the developer. Regardless of that percentage, the city would be liable for repayment of the entire $1 million with interest.
