NORWICH – The City of Norwich Common Council implemented a new loan monitoring practice this month that ensured that all economic development and community development loans would become current or the necessary actions would be taken.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Fourth Ward Alderman and Finance Committee Chair Walter Schermerhorn updated the council on the status of the economic and community development loans. Schermerhorn told the council that the city has 15 separate community and economic development loans totaling approximately $325,900. Schermerhorn said that seven of those loans are current and one is currently in the process of being restructured, which accounted for 70 percent of the loan funds.
As of last month, City Finance Director William Roberts had said that seven of the loans had remained without payments for a period of approximately five months.
“All the loans are now being paid on, except for one, which is being turned over to collections,” Schermerhorn said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Stipulations in the loan contracts call for penalties and late charges if a payment is over due by more than 15 days, but as of last month, no penalties had been charged. Now that the council has evaluated the status of the loans, Schermerhorn said that Roberts has begun evaluating the penalties for loan holders who are not current on their payment.
The loan monitoring plan was suggested by First Ward Alderman A. Anthony Abraham during a meeting that took place last month. Abraham proposed a motion be passed giving the Finance Committee the responsibility of monitoring the loans on a monthly basis and reporting their findings to the full Common Council. Last night’s report was the first of these.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council also passed a motion supporting the efforts of Tobacco Free Chenango and Reality Check and encouraging retailers to reduce tobacco advertising and eliminate it in areas likely to be seen by children, including on wall space below three feet or near candy displays.