The 3-year-old Butler County Infrastructure Bank (BCIB) started out as an idea for a way to help municipalities within the county with the projects they may be struggling to afford or complete.

At Wednesday's county commissioners meeting, Mark Gordon, the county chief of economic development and planning who came up with the idea, announced that the total amount for the five projects approved for BCIB loans in 2021 is more than double last year's amount.

Gordon said the BCIB will extend loans totaling $23 million in 2021.

The projects receiving the 2021 BCIB loans are in Prospect, Chicora and Butler Township and the Western Butler County Authority in Harmony as well as the Municipal Water Authority of Adams Township. They are detailed in a graphic on Page 5.

He said BCIB has provided loans to municipalities totaling more than $40 million since the entity's inception three years ago.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel said the 13 projects awarded in that time likely would not have been completed without the opportunity for the municipalities to get a low-interest loan, engineering assistance and other benefits from BCIB.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said the BCIB does not operate in a vacuum within the county.

“Many of our departments in the county work together to provide support,” Osche said. “We are proud of what you do.”

Commissioner Kim Geyer said the BCIB also has fostered connections between the county and municipalities while solving infrastructure issues in all corners of the county.

“We've built more solutions and fruitful working relationships with our municipalities,” Geyer said. “This program allows everyone in our county to experience improvements.”

Boozel said the BCIB also benefits the county because Gordon and his team are ready to spring into action should state or federal grant money become available for a county project.

Public finance attorney Anthony Ditka of Dinsmore and Shohl in Pittsburgh has set up the BCIB financing since its inception.“This has been an amazing way to leverage the dollars and really hit multiple areas,” Ditka said.He said the BCIB started out as a “labor of love,” but has blossomed into an outstanding organization within the county.“You three should be congratulated,” Ditka told the commissioners. “This is really a wonderful thing for Butler County.”Carolyn Yeager, Cherry Township secretary/treasurer, said the BCIB gave the township a $1.1 million loan last year to totally rebuild two to three miles of Harrisville Road.“We could not have done the project without the money from the infrastructure bank,” she said.The road, which is used by the 600 employees at Iron Mountain, was built insufficiently decades ago and was in a state of severe disrepair.

She said in addition to extending the loan, the BCIB helped with documentation, legal aspects of the project, drawing up contracts and other tasks unfamiliar to officials in a small, rural municipality.“It was so seamless,” Yeager said. “There was not a problem because they took care of everything. All I had to do was sign everything.”She said as a bookkeeper, she was anxious about handling more than $1 million, but the BCIB team helped with that too.“They jumped through hoops for me,” Yeager said. “They were wonderful.”She said the team also helped her pay off the loan using state reimbursement funds before the end of 2020, so it would not roll over to the next year's books and be flagged by auditors.“We paid off the loan on Dec. 30,” she said. “They were just as wonderful as far as handling that.”The BCIB also has provided low-interest loans to Jackson Township, Zelienople, Cranberry Township, Winfield Township, Butler and the Chicora Borough Sewer Authority.