Pub. 5 2010-2011 Issue 5

www.nebankers.org 18 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. T HROUGH RECOVERY ACT FUNDS, USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROVIDED LOANS, grants, and loan guarantees for community facilities, water and waste dis- posal, broadband, business and industry, and housing way beyond what regular annual allocations could have accomplished, meaning more rural residents, businesses, and communities received assistance. In Nebraska, the stimulus package brought $191 million into the state through Rural Development. What did these funds accomplish? They created and/or saved more than 1,700 permanent jobs, in addition to construction jobs. The funds provided for: • $62.8 million in loans and loan guarantees that brought homeownership to 773 households. • $58.7million in business and industry loan guarantees that assisted 11 businesses with working capital, expansion, and debt restructuring. • $42.9 million for community facility loans, grants, and loan guarantees that assisted 16 projects ranging from new hospitals and new libraries to street im- provements, community building renovations, and the purchase of emergency equipment. • $14.5 million that assisted 11 communities with their water and waste water needs. • $11.3 million to Southeast Nebraska Communications Inc. of Falls City, Neb., for continued and enhanced access to broadband capabilities. • $472,000 for seven rural business enterprise grants that provided technical assistance and revolving loan funds to facilitate and finance the development of small and emerging rural, private businesses. Following are a few success stories that resulted from USDA Rural Develop- ment loan guarantees provided through the American Recovery and Reinvest- ment Act. Recovery Act Stimulated Rural Nebraska Maxine Moul , Nebraska State Director, USDA Rural Development The Community Hospital in Mc- Cook, Neb., is being expanded to improve the care of its patients. USDA Rural Development assisted the McCook hospital with a $17 mil- lion community facility loan through funding provided by the Recovery Act. In addition, Thayer County Bank of Hebron, Neb., representing a group of independent community banks in Nebraska that teamed up to provide financing, provided a $15 million loan to the hospital with USDA Rural Development guar- anteeing the loan. The expansion already has created 300 construc- tion jobs in the first of three phases. The Community Hospital is a critical access hospital serving 11,500 rural residents in eight counties. Prairieland Foods LLC, a locally owned and operated dairy processing facility in Hallam, Neb., purchased a facility to meet the growing demand for a local, source-verified, sustainable supply of dairy foods and ingredients as well as to diversify the market expo- sure for milk produced at local dairies. Recovery Act funds through USDA Rural Development’s business and industry guaranteed loan program as- sisted the First State Bank in Cortland, Neb., in providing Prairieland Foods LLC a loan. Prairieland has increased its milk production and expanded its markets. The total project saved four jobs and created four new jobs with increased salaries for the workers. Jal Angelsson and his family of Plattsmouth, Neb., achieved home- ownership. Angelsson, his wife, their son, and two teenage daughters had outgrown their living space; a larger home was needed to allow the grow- ing family to live more comfortably. Through the USDA Rural Develop- ment guaranteed rural housing loan program with Recovery Act funding, Angelsson received an affordable homeownership loan at 100 percent financing from Cass County Bank in Plattsmouth, backed by a USDA Rural Development guarantee. The “Stimulus” and “Recovery Act” have been the buzz words since President Obama signed the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law on Feb. 13, 2009. Did the funding help rural America? It is evident that in Nebraska it did—and Nebraska bankers were key partners in the loan guarantees provided across the state.