The Greene County Board of Supervisors met yesterday in special session.

Members of Greene County Development Corporation (GCDC) and the owners of JCorporation Incorporated discussed with the Supervisors a new loan program for the proposed 44-unit housing project in Jefferson.

We’ve previously reported that there was a financial gap between the actual cost of the project and the appraised value.  That gap is $761,500.  Before the appraisal was done, the private investor backed out of the project, leaving the developer as the sole investor.  The Iowa Finance Authority created a new loan program for rural housing projects like Jefferson’s called the Workforce Housing Loan Program.  Both GCDC and JCorporation want to apply for $1 million for their proposed first phase of the project, which includes 20 of the 44-units at $50,000 per unit.  The loan would be payable over 20 years at one percent interest.

Some of the options that were discussed included giving part of the loan as a grant to the developer to pay back and the other part would be a loan.  GCDC requested that the County would be the entity applying for the loan.  The Jefferson City Council declined to approve the same request at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Some of the concerns from the Supervisors were getting similar requests in the future, due to the nature of this request being from a private business and about the loan going against the County’s debt service, which the County does not have any debt currently.

With the deadline for the application due on Monday, the Supervisors are expected to make a decision that day during their regular meeting.