Three years after former Gov. Sonny Perdue announced its formation, the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank has awarded just one loan so far, and more than $30 million in transportation funds remain idle, gathering interest.
The bank’s formation was a primary transportation initiative of Perdue in 2008, announced in his state of the state address and other speeches. The state allocated the loan money in 2009.
The state-funded loans offer favorable terms to all Georgia’s 159 counties, its cities and self-taxing business districts, to help speed local transportation projects. Four have applied for loans, according to the State Road and Tollway Authority, which runs the bank.
A spokeswoman for SRTA said that as a new initiative it took time for potential applicants to learn about it and for the state to learn what to tweak to attract more applicants. She added that SRTA did not consider the bank over-funded.
"Eventually, we do believe it will go to use," Reed Wilkins said of the remaining funds. "But we are constantly evaluating the program and evaluating the process as well."
In an effort to attract business for the bank, SRTA has eased its rules to admit paving and repair projects, and eliminated a requirement for borrowers to match the loan with local funds.
“I think this is one of the more progressive things that we’ve done to assist local governments,” Gov. Nathan Deal, chairman of the SRTA board, said at the board’s meeting this month. “Rather than having the money sit there and not be utilized I think this will certainly get it back to a status where we’ll get some results.”
The South Fulton Community Improvement District won the bank’s first loan, $1 million. That is to help upgrade Oakley Industrial Boulevard, adding a center turn lane, shoulders and new sidewalks, for what CID officials called an important safety project. Including funds from other sources, the project’s overall cost is $8.5 million, according to SRTA.
That still leaves the bank with $32 million in unborrowed funds, according to Gena Evans, director of SRTA.
The bank also had a pool of $10 million for grants, which do not have to be paid back, available only to community improvement districts. SRTA awarded the entire pool to eight recipients last year.
This month the bank also gave away the interest that had accrued on the fund to a ninth grant project, building a three-lane left turn on Mansell Road and North Point Parkway in the North Fulton Community Improvement District. That project will also receive Ga. 400 toll revenues.
Although the infrastructure bank charges very low interest, borrowing is still spending, and times are tight, some local officials said.
The Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District received a grant last year and is now applying for a loan on another project. The CID decided not to go for a loan on its first project because it didn’t want to pay even the low interest fees offered by the bank, the CID’s director said.
“You have to be very frugal with the money you have over a period of time,” said Chuck Warbington, the director.
Evans said SRTA staff were excited about the possibility of more applicants. Joddie Gray, administrator of the South Fulton CID, said SRTA was eager to work with them and processing the loan application just took longer than the grant application.
State Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said the bank’s slow start was understandable.
“I don’t know if it’s a failure; I just know we’re in different economic circumstances than we’ve been in before,” he said, which makes spending of any kind difficult.
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