Ohio officials are expected in Youngstown

The state treasurer wants to bring attention to a little-used loan program.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Ohio’s treasurer and attorney general were to be in Youngstown today with the former touting a state program to help small-business owners and the latter to officially open an office in the city.

Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray, a Franklin County Democrat, will discuss a state program that helps small-business owners obtain loans at a reduced interest rate.

The Small Business Linked Deposit program offers loans of up to $250,000 at 3 percent below the prime interest rate to qualified small-business owners.

The program was implemented in 1983 but became virtually dormant at the turn of the century because interest rates were low, said Holly Hollingsworth, Cordray’s spokeswoman.

With interest rates rising, Cordray wants to draw attention to the program, she said. The program helps preserve and create jobs and spur economic development, she added.

The treasurer’s office buys a certificate of deposit from a state-accredited lending institution for two years at the 3-percent reduced rate with the savings passed to the small-business owner, Hollingsworth said.

Cordray was to discuss the program with Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and his administration at city hall.

Dann’s open house

Also today, Attorney General Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat, was to have an open house at his Youngstown office at the city-owned 20 Federal Place on West Federal Street.

Earlier this month, 38 attorney general office employees moved into the former Phar-Mor Centre.

The 38 jobs are 22 from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation’s former office in Boardman and 16 from Dann’s new statewide predatory lending task force and employees being transferred from Columbus to Youngstown. The 38 jobs have a combined annual salary of $1.8 million.

The office occupies 21,517 square feet on the building’s third floor.

The attorney general’s office signed a two-year lease with the city for the space with free rent in the first year and a payment of $2 per square foot a year in the second year. The office also will pay $1.75 per square foot annually in both years for a common space area fee.

The attorney general’s office is prohibited by state law to sign lease agreements for more than two years.

skolnick@vindy.com