The city administrator and a councilor cannot agree on a program.
By Scott Taylor
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Councilors could vote on a new business development loan fund as early as July.

The plan, which would let the city loan up to $500,000 to help local businesses expand, first came up in October and has been discussed several times since then. City Administrator Jim Bennett and Councilor Norm Rousseau, who has opposed the fund, will meet this week to try and reach a compromise.

“We may be back presenting two plans because I’m not sure we’ll ever agree on all of it,” Bennett said. “But we can certainly work on it.”

According to Bennett’s plan, the city money would fill in the gaps for local businesses planning to expand. The city would accept loan applications through the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council.

The original plan gave councilors the final decision on each loan, but Tuesday Bennett recommended giving that authority to a new citizen review committee of seven, including one councilor and Bennett.

“There were concerns that there might be pressure on councilors to approve some of those loans, and that you wanted to be insulated from that,” Bennett said.

Once approved, the city would pay the borrower out of the city’s operating funds. The city typically sells bonds two times a year, and it would include the loan amount in the bonds sold to pay back the city’s operating funds.

“We would not borrow that money until we have a loan that has been approved,” Bennett said. “We’d never borrow that money until we have people ready to use it.”

But Rousseau said he was concerned a $500,000 limit per loan was too high and that the city didn’t have enough control over how the loans were managed.

“I have other questions, but I think we can work on those,” Rousseau said.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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