The City of Jefferson continues to play a role in the renovation project for Pillar Technology.

The City Council recently approved three financial items for the project at their regular meeting last week. City Administrator Mike Palmer says one of those items was a $150,000 forgivable loan, which he adds has been in the planning stages for quite some time.

“The City had set in motion back in March of this year, when they actually created an amendment to our Urban Renewal Area that would allow for money to be used in the downtown area to incentivize people to improve the buildings. We look at it more as an economic development incentive.”

The loan will utilize tax increment financing (TIF) funds, with ten-percent of the loan to be forgiven over the next ten years. Another financial incentive the Council approved was the first use of the $300,000 available funds for the second phase on the downtown facade improvement program. Palmer points out the program is a 50/50 match between the City and the building owner. The total request was over $162,000 and the Council approved just over $81,000 for Pillar.

The final portion was approving a resolution for the $100,000 Catalyst Grant as a forgivable loan. Palmer says the City applied and received the grant funds earlier this year, but there was a new development that Pillar wanted, which was to make it a forgivable loan over the next ten years as well.

“Grants are taxable income. Somebody can really get hit with a lot of taxes when all of a sudden you’re given a check for $100,000. So if you can spread that tax burden out a little bit, that certainly helps. And that’s exactly what the City Council did for this Pillar project.”

The total cost of the renovation project at 204-206 East State Street is $1.7 million. Pillar Tech officials anticipate by next May to have the project completed.