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New port authority economic-development director sees easy opportunities to change perceptions
By Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
Anthony Trevena, Western Reserve Port Authority economic-development director, sees “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for companies to use financing services he and a port authority consultant can provide.
During his first month on the job, he’s been meeting the people in the other economic-development organizations and the Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners, but he’s making plans to bring the port authority’s financing consultant, Michael DiPerna, to upcoming meetings with banks and other financial institutions.
They will educate them on what the port authority can do to save companies money. Trevena said he’s calling these meetings “DiPerna Days.”
“They’re not aware of the possibilities of working with the different programs,” Trevena said last week of the companies with aspirations of growing and the local financial institutions. The programs help companies finance their expansion. DiPerna, of Columbus, is an adviser and bond underwriter.
Among the programs they offer are fixed-rate bond funding issued through the port authority to provide tax-exempt and taxable bonds for up to 25 years; tax-increment financing, which allows future tax revenue on new construction or expansion to be used specifically for infrastructure and other community improvements; PACE Clean Energy Financing, which finances up to 100 percent of energy improvements at low interest rates and allows energy savings to pay for improvements through property-tax payments; and the capital lease program, which offers a sales-tax exemption on construction materials for new construction or expansion.
He said the banks will understand “how we can be a value-added service that they can provide to their customers.”
The focus on financing is so important within port authorities that the Summit County Port Authority recently renamed itself the Development Finance Authority of Summit County, Trevena said.
“I think once large companies realize what we do, it’s a no-brainer. They’ll be coming to us,” he said.
Trevena says he believes it will be exciting to make business owners and nonprofit organizations understand how the port authority can help them.
“It makes no sense to do a $5 million project and not deal with us, and we’ll make it easy,” he said.
“We’ve had people who have done projects in the past who said, ‘Why didn’t we know about that?’” Trevena said. “We want to be one of the first things that comes to mind when groups are working with large projects.”
Trevena is paid $90,000 annually. Moliterno, when reached by phone Friday, said he and Trevena were out of town and unable to provide how much DiPerna is paid.
John Moliterno, the port authority’s executive director, paid $110,000 annually, said adding Trevena to the economic-development team makes it possible for the port authority to provide better service.
“We’ve been short-handed,” he said of the period between January 2014, when the previous economic-development director, RoseAnn DeLeon, left because of illness and when Trevena was hired.