At the most recent Perry City Council meeting, a significant portion of time was devoted to the continuation of a guarantee agreement between the City and the Nudgers group.

City Administrator Sven Peterson explains, the agreement was originally formed to help the Nudgers acquire a bank loan for their project on the building adjacent to the movie theater. The agreement amount started at $750,000, but decreased to $500,000 a few years ago as the group made good on their payments. At the recent council meeting it was further decreased to $350,000. To date the group has yet to take a cent from the guarantee agreement, which would come from the City’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds. Peterson says the agreement is there to make up for tax credits the group lost in case they need it.

“The reason we decided to go with this guarantee for this financing was the change in the state and federal tax credits that came down mid-project for this group. So they really weren’t expecting this, and this $350,000 is about that gap between what the original project totals would have been that they were told with the tax credits, and the loss of those tax credits is the reason for this funding gap. So really it’s just kind of like co-signing on a loan for your kid for his first car or something like that.”

After a public hearing on the matter, the Council approved the continuation of the guarantee agreement.