TRUMBULL COUNTY Board taps out revolving loan fund

County commissioners also approved a tax abatement for a Howland steel mill.
By STEPHEN SIFF
TRUMBULL STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have tapped out the county's revolving loan fund temporarily to offer a loan to a hotel builder and a grant for sewer improvements in Warren.
This is the first time the county has emptied the loan fund, which was started 18 years ago to encourage development, said Alan Knapp, the county planning commission's assistant director.
"This is a good thing," Knapp said of the depletion of funds.
The money does more good for the community when it is in use for development than when it is sitting in the bank, he said.
Paid back: Money borrowed from the county revolving loan fund is paid back, so it can be used for other projects.
The payments back into the fund from outstanding loans amount to about $25,000 a month, Knapp said.
On Wednesday, commissioners approved lending $50,000 to help Liberty Newton Falls Inc., a company of developer Raxit Shah, build 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.
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, comprised of 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.