Camarillo OKs 2 Programs to Help Economy

In a bid to stimulate economic development, the Camarillo City Council on Wednesday approved a pair of programs aimed at helping the city reach its goals of increasing sales tax revenues and attracting more high-quality jobs.

One of the programs, known as the Ventura County Business Incubator Project, would help establish young, high-technology companies in the city and across the county by assisting them with financial, technical and intellectual assistance.

The council voted to unanimously support the project, saying that if developed it would help both the city and the county.

“I think this is an excellent idea,” said Councilman Ken Gose. “I’m glad to see this happening.”

Wally Boeck, the program’s coordinator, said the program could bring more than 40 new companies and 500 new jobs to the county within five years.

“We believe this will become the centerpiece of economic development in the county,” Boeck said before the meeting. “We are very excited about the prospects.”

Boeck said that to make the incubator project work, the program will need the free office space from the county and nearly $1 million in initial funding. He said that most of the start-up money could come from federal grants.

The council, however, stopped short of directly asking the county to provide space for the project.

Although they universally praised the proposal, some council members expressed concern that asking the county for the free office space could jeopardize the program’s chance of getting off the ground.

“I’m personally uncomfortable asking the county to provide free office space,” Councilwoman Charlotte Craven said. “They could turn around and say, ‘Why don’t you (Camarillo) give them free rent?’ ”

However, Mayor Michael Morgan said he saw no problems with asking the county for help.

“I feel no guilt in asking them to provide this space,” Morgan said. “In the end, it will only help augment their own economic development plan.”

But after further debate, the council agreed to suggest in a letter that if space was available county officials consider providing it to the incubator project.

If developed, the incubator would be Ventura County’s second such entity, according to Sheila Washington, president of the California Business Incubation Network. In Thousand Oaks, a similar program that focuses on companies working on environmental technologies is expected to start operating later this spring. Washington said that so far, 30 “business incubators” are operating in the state.

The Camarillo council on Wednesday also unanimously approved the creation of a city-sponsored industrial development bond program that would enable companies in need of capital for expansion to secure as much as $10 million through the sale of publicly held bonds.

City Finance Director Anita Bingham said the city would assume no liability to bond holders, but would help administer the program to Camarillo-based companies wishing to expand already existing facilities or to outside firms that have committed to relocating to the city.

The bonds, which would mature after 10 or 15 years, would be secured by letters of credit issued by banks and the companies themselves.

“The program would help businesses meet their capital needs by using the city’s authority to issue bonds (that would) provide access to below-market interest rate borrowing,” Bingham said. The city would act “as a conduit for the issuance of the bonds.”

Bingham said the only risk the city would face would be if the company that received the bond revenue defaulted on its repayments at the same time the bank that issued the letter of credit failed.

In such a situation, Bingham said, it would be very likely that Camarillo’s credit rating could be temporarily reduced, but that the city still would not be held liable.

Although she voted for the program, Craven said she was wary that the banks issuing the letters of credit could fail.

City Manager Bill Little, however, assured the council that before each bond sale comes before them for final approval, it will first be carefully examined by city staff, outside financial advisers and state finance officials. Little added that billions of dollars have been raised elsewhere through the issuance of similar bonds.

“But, we will assure you that, one, the firm is credit-worthy and two, the bank is of the same caliber before it gets to you,” Little said.

Jim Jevens, the city’s economic development consultant, said he was excited about the two programs and its prospects for helping him lure new businesses to Camarillo. He said following the meeting that he is already in contact with three firms who have expressed interest in participating in the bond program.

“I look at both programs as tools,” Jevens said. “I think they’re really going to help in our campaign to convince companies to consider coming to Camarillo.”