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SOREDI to receive $500,000 grant By GREG STILES A revolving loan pool that has enhanced the region's small-business base for the past six years will today expand by a half-million dollars. Lynn Schoessler, state director for U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development, will deliver a $500,000 grant to Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development's revolving loan fund. "Your chance of getting funds is based on past experience - how quickly you get the money out and the results - the need in the area and the experience of the lending people," says Bob Bueoy, SOREDI's business development specialist. "Our marks are real high at getting the money out. Already, we've got out everything they've given us and a lot has revolved back to us." Since 1995, SOREDI has made 90 small-business loans totaling $6 million in Jackson and Josephine counties. SOREDI officials say those loans have created or retained 823 jobs. Forty loans were for expansions, 29 were start-ups and 21 were used to keep businesses from closing. Representative of the program's success are Jetcraft Boats and Brill Metal Works, two local firms that doubled their work force with SOREDI's financial help. Five years ago, Jetcraft used a $65,000 loan to buy robotic equipment that cuts out boat parts from aluminum sheets at its East Vilas Road plant. Since then, Jetcraft's staff has grown from 23 to 50 "SOREDI's loan was directly involved in us being able to produce more boats and hire more people," said owner Bruce Wassom. The loans are relatively high-risk. Five of the 90 are delinquent. That percentage of would be high for standard bank portfolios, which are typically less than 1 percent. "But it's pretty reasonable considering the kind of loans we're making, where a high percentage would not qualify for a bank loan," says Joe Danelson, of U.S. Bank, who chairs SOREDI's revolving fund loan committee. "We're often dealing with an entrepreneur who doesn't have enough of their own money into the project. It's more of a venture capital-type loan." More than $2 million has been paid back. Bueoy says SOREDI's involvement has allowed businesses to leverage nearly $13 million in additional loans from banks and private investors. Roger Stokes, owner of Brill Metal Works, said $150,000 from SOREDI's program parlayed with loans from Western Bank and a leasing arm of U.S. Bank., financed a half-million dollar expansion in 1996. "It helped us put the 16,500-square-foot building we're in together," he says. Brill, which manufacturers precision sheet metal enclosures and electronic components, is on Bierson Way off Table Rock Road. The company grew from a dozen employees six years ago to a high of 23. The newest grant is earmarked for Josephine County, outside Grants Pass' city limits, because "the need is pretty strong in the Cave Junction and Sunny Valley areas," Bueoy said. Another $4.5 million is available for Jackson County outside Medford's city limit. A handful of applications are being processed with two loans pending. Schoessler said Oregon's rural development program, spawned by the 1993 Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative is among the strongest in the nation with virtually every county covered through an economic development agency or represented by a council of governments. "It's a tool available for local use administered by local folks, who know local needs," Schoessler says. "(Agencies) do have to pay us back over a 30-year period, but they're able to make enough money (through interest) for their operational expenses." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.