10/18/2011 - Revolving Loan Programs Get Easier

City Council approves a number of changes to improve access for commercial loan programs

PORTLAND, Maine- At last night’s Portland City Council meeting, the City Council approved a number of improvements to the city’s revolving loan programs to make them more accessible and responsive to the needs of Portland businesses. Improvements include the creation of a 60/30/10 loan program, which requires only 10% equity from the borrower (60% from a conventional lender and 30% from City’s loan funds), increasing Micro and Creative Economy Loan maximums to $50,000, expanding eligible activities for many of these loans to include working capital, and refinancing.

The Council also approved changing the name of the Downtown Portland Corporation to Portland Development Corporation (PDC) to better reflect the mission of the City Council appointed board, which serves the entire city. The PDC is charged with implementing and administering economic development programs including approval of all loan requests. For the past seven months, the PDC has been working with the city’s Economic Development Division to update the loan programs.

“We are very pleased that the Council approved our proposed loan program changes,” said DPC President Donna Katsiafikas. “The main intent of these changes is to get more of the city’s revolving loan fund dollars into the marketplace, helping Portland businesses to grow and to new create jobs.”

The 60/30/10 Program, also known as the Portland Business Loan Program, is designed to meet an unmet need in the marketplace, particularly for projects between $250,000 and $500,000 as projects of this size are not ideal for other programs including the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 50/40/10 funding product. With minimal fees and opportunities for guarantees for the bank’s share from the SBA or the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), the new 60/30/10 Program is expected to be very useful to growing Portland businesses.

More information and details about all of the changes to the loan programs can be found online at http://www.portlandmaine.gov/citymanagers/financialassistance.asp.

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Nicole Clegg
Director of Communications
City of Portland
389 Congress Street, Room 208
Portland, ME 04101
office: 207-756-8173
cell: 207-272-4477