County’s revolving loan fund has money to lend

LOCK HAVEN, PA – In this period of rising interest rates, Clinton County through its Revolving Loan Fund, can offer a 3 percent interest rate for new or expanding businesses.

Mike Flanagan, secretary for the county’s revolving loan fund board, said at Thursday’s county commissioners meeting the fund has about a million dollars available to loan out. He said presently “a couple” businesses are looking at utilizing the program.

Flanagan spoke as the county commissioners gave their approval to a Revolving Fund loan to Schlesinger Properties LLC, in the amount of $125,000 towards the cost of the recent Schlesinger purchase of the Lock Haven Elks Lodge property on E. Main St. in Lock Haven.

The program is administered through regional planning agency SEDA-COG. According to that organization’s website, the fixed low interest loans have helped create 1,300 jobs in the county since its inception in 1985. The fund had first been set up in the wake of the departure of Piper Aircraft Corporation from Lock Haven, the company at one time the largest employer in the county.

The loans usually cover one-third of the project or a $250,000 maximum, terms typically seven or 10 years, according to SEDA-COG..