TRUMBULL COUNTY Board taps out loan fund

County commissioners also approved a tax abatement for a Howland steel mill.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have tapped out the county's revolving loan fund to offer a loan to a hotel builder and a grant for sewer improvements in Warren.
Low-interest loans for development will still be available from other sources, said Alan Knapp, the county planning commission's assistant director.
Money borrowed from the county revolving loan fund is paid back into the fund, so it may be used for other projects.
On Wednesday, commissioners approved lending $50,000 to help Liberty Newton Falls Inc. construct a private drive at a Holiday Inn Express planned in Braceville, near the state Route 5 exit of the Ohio Turnpike.
The loan is for 10 years at 6 percent interest.
A grant: The commissioners also approved a $110,000 grant from the fund to the city of Warren, to create separate storm and sanitary sewers on Mahoning Avenue.
This money will not have to be paid back, Knapp said.
The project is needed to reduce the volume of water going into the city's waste treatment plant to make room for waste from the new Golden Triangle sewer line, Knapp said.
That sewer line, to be constructed at a cost of $940,000, will serve six businesses on Phoenix Road in Howland.
Commissioners also approved abating taxes on a $10 million investment by the new owners of the Wheatland Tube mill on Dietz Road in Howland.
The John Maneely Co., of Collingswood, N.J., recently purchased the entire Wheatland Tube division, comprising mills in Howland, and Sharon and Wheatland, Pa., from AK Steel, said Paul Harman, comptroller of Wheatland Tube Co.
The new owners plan to add 10 employees.
There are now 151 employees at the Howland mill, which sells tubing to distributors of electrical and pipe products, Harmon said.
The abatement, which was approved by Howland Township trustees Feb. 27, reduces the company's taxes on new machinery, building improvements and additional inventory by 60 percent for 10 years.