Montgomery County may soon be able to provide financial assistance to not-for-profit agencies undertaking projects intended to upgrade their facilities and hire more people.
Members of the County Legislature’s Economic Development and Planning Committee met Tuesday and approved the formation of a Capital Resources Corporation. The resolution will go before the full Legislature May 27.
Kenneth Rose, director of the county’s Economic Development and Planning Department, and Chris Martell, special counsel for the Montgomery County Industrial Development Agency, explained that the Capital Resources Corporation would function a lot like the IDA; its sole purpose would be to issue bonds to finance projects designed to create jobs and train people to fill them, as well as researching ways to help communities attract new industry or retain existing businesses, lessening the burden on local government, according to the resolution.
Under the proposal, the Capital Resources Corporation would be able to do the following:
- build, acquire, rehabilitate and improve industrial or manufacturing plants;
- provide financial assistance to agencies wanting to do so;
- furnish information and advice, and work with federal, state and local authorities;
- borrow money and issue negotiable bonds or notes;
- sell, lease or mortgage any facility it has acquired.
Rose and Martell explained that the Civil Facilities Legislation, a section of law that allowed IDAs to provide financial assistance to not-for-profit agencies, expired in 2008, and the formation of the Capital Resources Corporation would restore the county’s ability to do that.
