Vrakas' business loan plan may get new life
Waukesha - Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas' proposed small-business loan program, rejected last month by the County Board, could get a second chance next week.
Supervisor Dave Falstad, one of 13 supervisors to vote against the $300,000 tax financed program, will ask for reconsideration at the board's meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse.
Nine supervisors supported the plan in September, but County Board Chairman Jim Dwyer, who was among them, said three supervisors - Ted Rolfs, Pamela Meyer and Jean Tortomasi - were absent for the vote and two of them have indicated support for the plan. If all 25 supervisors are present Tuesday, 13 votes would be necessary for reconsideration and passage.
The Small Business Leverage Loan Program would have provided no-interest loans of up to $50,000 to highly leveraged eligible companies in existence at least a year that need temporary gap financing. Businesses targeted for the loans would be in manufacturing, technology, suppliers of local manufacturers and similar job creators.
The $300,000 comes from tax funds returned to the county by communities who close out tax incremental financing districts with surpluses. Under tax incremental financing, communities keep all the property taxes on new development in a designated area until public investments that helped spur that development are fully paid off.