Organization

Jackson County Board of Commissioners vote to designate county a Recovery Zone

By Holly Klaft
Jackson Citizen Patriot
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

About $28.7 million in federal bonds will be available to businesses and public entities looking to launch expansion or improvement projects throughout Jackson County.

The county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved designating the entire county as a Recovery Zone to make all local businesses and governments eligible for financing through the Recovery Zone Bond Program. That will allow for the issuance of about $17.2 million in tax-exempt Facility bonds and $11.5 million in Economic Development bonds.

The bonds will be available until the end of the year and can be issued through The Economic Development Corp. of Jackson County, which is an arm of county government that is run by The Enterprise Group.

Facility bonds will provide loans to private businesses for projects that could create jobs, while the Economic Development bonds would help public entities, such as schools or governments, pay for public improvements.

The entire county qualifies as a Recovery Zone — generally considered to be an area that has significant poverty, unemployment and home foreclosure rates — because of the state of the economy, Enterprise Group CEO Scott Fleming said.

Oakland County has already been designated as a Recovery Zone.

The bonds will help businesses secure financing and could spur development, area leaders said.

County board Chairman Steve Shotwell said officials are looking into whether the bonds can be used to tear down dilapidated structures.

Fleming said the economic development agency has projects in mind that could benefit from the bonds, including one that could potentially bring as much as $45 million in investment to the county. He would not provide details on the project.