To MassDevelopment Nonprofit Customers and Other Interested Parties:
Next week, the House will consider HB 4820, an economic-development bill that would merge HEFA into MassDevelopment on October 1, 2010 and create a single agency to issue tax-exempt bonds for nonprofits in Massachusetts.
The bill would bring together in one agency the ability of MassDevelopment and HEFA to leverage private dollars to promote economic growth in the Commonwealth. It would save money while maintaining access to low-cost financing for nonprofits across the Commonwealth. During the last three fiscal years, MassDevelopment issued 269 bonds totaling $5.2 billion in par amount. Of these, 180 tallying more than $4.5 billion were for nonprofits. HEFA issued 122 bonds tallying more than $8 billion with three universities representing nearly $3 billion of the HEFA issues. No public money is put at risk, but the public benefits from jobs and economic activity generated by the projects while you save on interest rates.
Another plus: the fees MassDevelopment earns issuing bonds allow us to reinvest in the Commonwealth and its families by making loans and grants to area businesses and non-profits; helping cities and towns revitalize neighborhoods; and redeveloping blighted surplus state and federal properties. In the past three years, we made 183 loans and loan guarantees to small businesses and nonprofits totaling more than $120 million, of which more than $32 million was for small nonprofits. In the first six months of FY10, we made $22 million in loans to Massachusetts businesses, both for-profit and not-for-profit. At a time when banks had tightened credit, MassDevelopment continued to make loans.
Since 1998 when the Legislature created MassDevelopment by merging the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency and the Government Land Bank, MassDevelopment has served both for-profit and nonprofit organizations and in doing so saved them billions in borrowing costs. Merging MassDevelopment and HEFA will eliminate duplication of services, result in economies of scale, and provide even greater returns to the employers and people of Massachusetts.
I ask that you call your representatives in the House to support MassDevelopment. Visit www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm for a list of legislators by municipality.
Please call me at 617.330.2056, if you have any questions. Nonprofits are a key component of our economy. We value the work you do and pledge to redouble our efforts to help you expand and innovate by delivering efficient services to keep your borrowing costs low. Thank you for supporting MassDevelopment. I look forward to continuing our work with you to promote economic development in Massachusetts.
