By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-819847.mp3
Buffalo, NY – 520 businesses in Western New York have gotten a helping hand with loans from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency since 1979. That's according to a study released Monday that evaluated the benefit of those loans.
According to the study, the ECIDA made loans totaling $88 million over the last thirty years. Those loans reportedly returned about $685 million in private investments. That is roughly eight dollars for each dollar loaned.
The study also found that about twelve percent of the loans were write-offs.
Alfred Culliton is Chief Financial Officer for the ECIDA. He said that is not as good as most bank write off rates. But he said it is not expected to be. He said the ECIDA offers assistance to promising businesses that have difficulty getting full funding from commercial lenders.
Culliton said he expects that, given the current credit market, many more businesses will be at their doorstep seeking loans. He said there is somewhere betweeen five and seven million dollars available right now. And Culliton said they are eager to hand it out.
The fund started with roughly eleven million dollars in federal, Erie County and City of Buffalo grants. It is replenished with repaid loans and interest.