Section 121.12. Application for refunding 6th year and beyond

(a) Eligibility to apply. The Department will inform each municipality having a designated enterprise zone whether it is eligible to apply for refunding for a 6th year and beyond. Eligibility to apply for a 6th year of funding will be determined by the Department based upon its examination, during the 5th year of funding for a zone, of the degree to which the 5-year objectives have been achieved, either as originally stated or as most recently accepted in amended form by the Department.

(1) Factors considered during the examination will include the following:

(i) The overall pattern of development occurring within the zone as compared to the dominant pattern of development sought in the 5-year objectives.

(ii) The number of new jobs created.

(iii) The amount of new/additional business investment.

(iv) Current strategy objectives.

(v) Business development.

(vi) New job creation prospects.

(vii) The increase in available financial resources for implementation developed over the 5-year period.

(2) Examples of the factors listed in paragraph (1) include: documented arrangements with county or regionally-administered business loan funds and customized job training organizations for prompt consideration of zone-business development finance or skill training requests; access to pooled area banks’ or municipal CDBG funds’ capitalization of a small business revolving loan fund; arrangements with Senior Corps of Retired Executives financial executives to provide assistance to small business start-ups and small expanding firms in need of help to prepare or revise their business plans; and arrangements with a regional agency to provide or arrange assistance in preparation of a Federal procurement contract bid, export market development or technology transfer application.

(3) Assessments of each zone will be individualized to the extent permitted by available data to avoid unfair comparisons of raw numbers between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan zones. Special circumstances will be carefully considered and may influence an assessment, but will rarely provide the basis for the Department’s conclusions about each zone’s 5-year performance.

(4) Eligibility of a municipality to apply for funding beyond the 6th year will be determined by the Department based upon its annual reviews.

(b) Type of grant. Basic grants are available for administrative support and seed money for modestly sized projects.

(c) Application contents.

(1) For the 6th year and for each subsequent year of funding, applicants should produce clear evidence of progress toward attainment of project objectives of improved job quality which include increased full-time employment or opportunities for full-time employment at above minimum wage levels with fringe benefits and opportunity for advancement.

(2) Updated project sheets shall be provided for projects active but incomplete during the current year, which are to be continued during the coming year. These projects should be identified as ‘‘Continuing’’ at the top of the front page of each project sheet. Project sheets for new projects to be undertaken during the coming year and a line-item budget for the anticipated grant should also be included.

(d) Application submission. Four copies of the application shall be submitted to the Department. One copy shall be sent to the appropriate regional office and three copies shall be sent to the Strategic Planning and Operations Office. The addresses listed in this subsection will be published annually in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

(e) Phase down or discontinuation of basic grants. The Department generally will not extend designated zone basic grant funding beyond a maximum of 8 years. The persistence on a multi-year basis of an absence of progress on job quality objectives within the zone may result in reduced or discontinued funding. The final 2 years of basic grant funding for successful zones will be at reduced levels, but the zones will remain eligible for priority access to other Commonwealth resources. Municipalities with more than one zone may opt for continuation of basic grants beyond the 8th year, or may opt for closing of the zones and apply for planning grants for new zones.

The provisions of this § 121.12 adopted April 1, 1988, effective April 2, 1988, 18 Pa.B. 1493.