County approves revolving fund
By Terry Murry on Thursday, November 11th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners approved establishing a $2 million revolving fund for the city of Pendleton to use for housing development at its meeting Wednesday morning. Chairman George Murdock said the money comes from investments realized by economic development in other parts of the county.
“All of those agreements pay money to the county, and that’s what’s being used to fund the economic development with the city of Pendleton,” he said. “We like to use some of them in other parts of the county, not just where that economic activity is going, because it does impact the coffers of the whole county.”
The city wants to develop water, sewer, and street infrastructure for an undeveloped property that could potentially accommodate 1,000 new dwellings. Once homes are being built there, the city can decide to establish some sort of improvement district to get the money spent on infrastructure paid back. Murdock says such a plan would continue to feed the revolving fund.
“As long as the revolving fund continues to focus itself on housing developments in the community it will stay with the city,” he said. “If it were ever to be used for budget balancing or other projects besides its intended purpose, then it would have to be returned from the county.”
