Area businesses get loans from Watershed Corp.

MARGARETVILLE, NY, Jan. 26, 2006 - Low-interest loans to four Delaware County businesses were approved by the Catskill Watershed Corporation Board of Directors on January 24.

An existing loan to a fifth company will be increased, bringing the financial assistance authorized at the Board’s monthly meeting to $914,000. The loans are drawn from the Catskill Fund for the Future, which to date has closed on 101 loans totaling more than $21.6 million. These funds have leveraged an additional $44 million from other lending institutions and the borrowers themselves, resulting in the creation of an estimated 780 jobs.

Closings on another 12 loans amounting to $3.3 million are pending.
At the January 24 meeting, the CWC Board approved loans to the following:

• The Caelan Allen Corp. (Lydia and August Castiglia), owners of The Flower Shop in Fleischmanns, to refinance an existing loan and provide working capital to expand their business to include operations at Emerson Place in Shandaken.
• B&D Motors (Joseph Dabritz) in Margaretville, to refinance existing debt.
• Delhi Inns, Inc. (Jesse and Jose Gopuranthingal) to help erect and furnish a new 46-room Best Western hotel on Main Street in Delhi. The couple owns the Buena Vista Motel in Delhi.
• Fane Family Deli (William and Lynda Stratton Fane) for equipment and renovation costs for a new eatery on Bridge Street, Roxbury.
• 0-35 Williams Street (owners of the property housing Northeast Fabricators in Walton), additional funds to convert 2,500 square feet of unused space in the facility to office and conference space, bathrooms and a lunch room.

In other business:

Paul Rush, Director of West-of-Hudson Operations Division for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, updated the Board on emergency repairs to the Gilboa Dam of the Schoharie Reservoir, and the impacts of resulting reservoir water releases on the Schoharie and Esopus Creeks.

The Board authorized reimbursement of eligible costs for residential septic repairs and replacement conducted anywhere in the West-of-Hudson Watershed between Nov. 23, 2004 and Dec. 1, 2005, regardless of whether those systems are located in the current priority areas for the CWC Septic Rehabilitation and Replacement Program.

Georgianna Lepke, representative from Sullivan County, was elected CWC Treasurer to replace Walton’s Joe Hanley, who resigned in December.

Authorization was given for payment of up to $100,000 to the Town of Neversink to fund expenses related to administering taxes of New York City-owned lands in the Town.

The Annual Meeting of CWC member towns was set for Tuesday, April 25 at 6 p.m. at the corporation’s offices, 905 Main St., Margaretville.

For more information on CWC programs, go to www.cwconline.org , or call 845-586-1400, or toll-free, 877-928-7433.