FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010
CONTACT: Jeff Buhrandt
(608)266-7511
Legislature Passes Recovery Zone Bonding Economic
Development Bill
Legislation will make more federal bonding available to Northern
and Western Wisconsin; could
help area projects move forward
MADISON – Both the State Assembly and State Senate voted today
to approve legislation that will
give communities and private developers in northern and western Wisconsin
access to more capital,
putting numerous projects in a position to move forward more quickly
than originally planned. The
legislation is the second major economic development plan moved forward
recently, following Senate
passage of the CORE Jobs Act last week.
“Job creation through economic growth is clearly our top priority,
and this bill is the next logical step
in our efforts” said Kreitlow, the co-author of the CORE Jobs
Act and a member of the Senate
Committee on Economic Development. “Like CORE, this bill will
encourage private investment in
every corner of the state, in this case by maximizing our state’s
ability to use federal bonding
authority.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorizes counties and
local governments to issue tax exempt
conduit bonds – known as Recovery Zone Facility Bonds – for
private sector economic
development projects prior to the end of this year. Wisconsin’s
total allocation for bonds issued in
2009 and 2010 is approximately $238 million. The amount of the bonds
is divided among Wisconsin’s
72 counties as well as the cities of Milwaukee, Madison and Green
Bay and most counties do not have
a large enough allocation to make tax-exempt financing for economic
development cost effective. The
authorization for these bond ends Dec. 31 this year. Other states
have taken similar steps to maximize
their bond allocation by combining these county specific bonds into
a statewide pool.
“During this year’s Chippewa Valley Rally, I heard from
a number of local government and economic
development leaders about a various projects in our area that could
directly benefit from this bill,”
added Kreitlow. “I am thrilled that our work in Madison is
starting to pay off with increased private
investment in job growth, and I look forward to seeing more projects
move forward thanks, in part, to
our efforts.” |