Officials to combine small-business help

The city and state programs can help small businesses, the treasurer says.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray and Youngstown city officials say they plan to coordinate financial assistance programs each offers to provide greater economic incentives to small- business owners.

Cordray spoke Thursday with Mayor Jay Williams and T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director, about his office’s Small Business Linked Deposit program.

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

During the discussion, Williams and Woodberry said the treasurer’s program could be “cross-marketed” with the city’s Youngstown Initiative.

The Youngstown program offers low-interest loans of up to $100,000 to qualified businesses as well as grants of up to $50,000 for demolition work and waives fees for utility connections.

“Our success can be even greater with this,” Williams said of the treasurer’s program. “It’s more money to invest and more opportunity for job creation.”

Effects of interest

The treasurer’s program began in 1983 but became essentially dormant during the early part of the decade because of low interest rates, Cordray said.

Interest rates have risen in the past few years, and Cordray, who took office in January, wants small-business owners to know this program exists.

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

Cordray called the Youngstown Initiative a model for other cities.

“The more incentives you can give, the more likely it is for businesses to succeed,” he said. “There’s a real good fit between these two programs. It’s almost like finding your long-lost twin brother.”

The city will make the treasurer’s program part of its marketing strategy to attract and retain businesses in Youngstown, Williams said.

“The less a small business has to pay in financing, the more a business can invest,” he said. “These two programs go very well together.”

skolnick@vindy.com