Butler County is accepting loan applications from municipalities and authorities for infrastructure work beginning in September.

Under the timeline for implementing the Butler County Infrastructure Bank program, applications can be submitted through December.

The review and approval process will run from January through April.

Along with utility authorities, other types such as transit and airport authorities are eligible to apply for the loans.

Mark Gordon, county chief of economic development and planning, said the program will start with roughly $500,000 using natural gas drilling impact fee revenue as the designated funding source.

Gordon said in an interview the infrastructure fills a valuable need.

“The infrastructure hasn't kept pace with the population growth,” he said.

Gordon said the county would charge a 0.5-percent to 1.5-percent interest rate, because the main capital for projects would come from a source such as the Commonwealth Infrastructure Bank. The county money would provide collateral and cover the borrower's payments on the loan.

The commissioners are expected at Thursday's meeting to discuss hiring the Cranberry Township branch of the engineering firm of Herbert, Rowland & Grubic for $18,200 to help develop the process, including criteria for eligibility.

Gordon said HRG helped develop the only other Pennsylvania county infrastructure bank for Dauphin County a few years ago.

“It's been effective in Dauphin,” he said.

Unlike Butler, Dauphin used liquid fuels money to fund its infrastructure bank.

Gordon said when loans are repaid, the county will put that money back into the infrastructure bank fund.

“It's self-sustaining,” he said.

Gordon explained the method ensures the program survives even if gas drilling impact fee revenue dries up.

In September 2018, any closing of the county financing would occur.

HRG would then help those applicants in need of assistance in project design.

Those costs would be included in the loan amount.

“The county gets that money back,” Gordon said.

He said applicants may use the loans as matching funds for government grants, expanding potential funding for projects.

“They can leverage it,” Gordon said.

He said municipalities also may use infrastructure bank loans to pay for police or fire department radios that will be compatible with the new county emergency services radio system, which connects them to the 911 dispatch center.

“If they exhausted all other avenues,” Gordon said.

Nonprofit organizations and school districts also are eligible for the loans, but they need a municipal sponsor.

Gordon said the program benefits the community.

“It's proactive, not reactive,” he said.

County Commissioner Leslie Osche, board chairman, agreed.

“This is certainly a good step forward,” she said.

Osche described the infrastructure bank as a tool for municipalities to use.

“We can't grow as a community ... if municipalities don't have an infrastructure in place,” she said.