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Committee places $500,000 on reserve and forwards $1M small-business loan fund supplemental with conditions
Summary
Committee forwarded a $1 million general-fund supplement to recapitalize the small-business revolving loan fund, but placed $500,000 on committee reserve pending implementation progress; Working Solutions and OEWD explained outreach, capacity and low 4–6% loan rates.
The Budget and Finance Committee forwarded an ordinance to report $1,000,000 of prior-year general-fund balance to the small-business revolving loan fund but placed $500,000 of that amount on Budget and Finance Committee reserve pending evidence of deployment and implementation progress.
Jennifer Matz, director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), summarized the revolving loan fund's history: the fund began in 2009 with seed funding of $800,000; 29 loans from that initial pot have been repaid and the program reports 75 jobs created or retained to date. OEWD said it integrated a legacy Wells Fargo loan corpus originally dedicated to storefront improvements and expanded allowable uses to working capital and inventory in underserved corridors.
Working Solutions (the community-lending partner) and its executive director Emily Gassner told supervisors they administer $3 million across Bay Area loan programs, made 31 loans in the prior year, and can process about four revolving-fund loans per month with current capacity. With additional resources, they expect to process 6–12 loans per month. OEWD and Working Solutions said loan rates are expected to be in the 4–6 percent range, which they said is lower than typical marketplace alternatives (examples of other community lenders presented at higher rates).
Public commenters — small-business owners and nonprofit intermediaries — testified in favor of expanding lending capacity, citing specific examples where low-interest loans supported growth and hiring. Several supervisors emphasized the need for targeted outreach to non-English-speaking merchants and corridor-specific outreach in neighborhoods such as the Mission, Excelsior and Portola.
To balance caution with programmatic support, the committee adopted a motion to put $500,000 on reserve and forward the remaining $500,000 with recommendation; DEWD was asked to prepare language reflecting the reserve condition so full-board materials can include it. The department agreed to return with periodic reports on deployment and outreach.
