SHENANGO VALLEY Industrial agency's loans get no takers

The organization has more than $700,000 in low-interest funds available.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The Shenango Valley Enterprise Zone Corp. is looking for someone to take its money.
The nonprofit local government operation is in the business of providing low-interest loans to new or expanding industrial projects, but it hasn't given out any new loans in months.
Its most recent financial report shows it has $708,216 in its loan fund but no takers for the cash.
The 18-year-old program has given dozens of loans over the years to help companies in the designated enterprise zone boundaries that include parts of Wheatland, Farrell, Sharon, Sharpsville, Hermitage and Greenville.
The program gives loans of up to $150,000 and has 36 loans on the books totaling nearly $4 million. The monthly payback on those loans is about $56,500, which goes back into the loan pool.
Getting the word out
George Becker, corporation president, told the board of directors Wednesday that he is appointing a marketing committee to get the word out that money is available.
Becker said he wants to be sure the enterprise zone is advertised in regional journals. John Evans, chairman of the loan committee, suggested that developing a "prospect list" of companies that might need enterprise zone help could be useful.
Director Thomas Tulip said the new committee also should look at better use of local chambers of commerce as a way to get that information out.
James Cardamon, enterprise zone coordinator, said the zone's first Internet Web site should be up and running within a month.
It's ready to go, but it still needs a final version of a map that shows the zone boundaries, he added.