Portage County RLF steering committee plans spring round; applicants must be shovel-ready and include Davis-Bacon estimates

Speaker 6, presenting for the community development revolving loan fund (RLF) steering committee, told the Portage County Board of Commissioners that the county skipped its fall RLF funding round because most funds were already committed and that a spring round will proceed this year. "We did not have one last fall because most of the RLF funds were committed," Speaker 6 said, adding that the county expects to release the application next Friday and that allocation grant applications will be due around mid-June.

Why it matters: The RLF provides gap financing for community development projects. Speaker 6 said the steering committee clarified eligibility to speed disbursement: the RLF is not intended to be the first source of funding but should either fully fund a project or be the final gap closer. Projects must be close to "shovel-ready," with comprehensive cost estimates that explicitly include Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates and evidence that other funding sources are firmly committed.

Details from the presentation: Speaker 6 explained Regional Planning (Barbara) will administer the allocation grant cycle while the county steering committee will continue to review and score applications to ensure they meet national objectives and commissioners' scoring priorities. The steering committee approved two minor changes to its guidance: (1) if no revolving loan funds remain, the county will not open a funding cycle; (2) strengthen the readiness-to-proceed criteria so projects move quickly through grant deadlines.

Prevailing wages and monitoring: In response to a question from Speaker 2 about who monitors Davis-Bacon prevailing wages on funded projects, Speaker 6 said that for revolving loan fund projects the county has staff responsible for reporting and compliance, while Regional Planning handles monitoring where it administers allocation grants.

Next steps and timeline: The steering committee anticipates a journal entry at the next meeting to approve the updates to the RLF guidance. If approved, staff expects to release the application next Friday and accept allocation grant submissions with mid-June deadlines.

Context and local impact: The change aims to reduce delays in deploying RLF dollars. Neighborhood Development Services presented the RLF balance sheet (12/31/2025) later in the meeting as part of routine acknowledgments. The RLF changes affect communities and nonprofits that rely on short-term gap financing for construction and rehabilitation projects.