CWC makes first two flood loans to Walton businesses

MARGARETVILLE, NY, August 11, 2006 - The Catskill Watershed Corporation Board of Directors, meeting in special session August 7, approved loan packages to two Walton businesses hard hit by recent flooding.

The Big M supermarket and the Walton Reporter were approved for loans which will carry no interest charge for the first year. Payments will be deferred for the first six months.

They are the first two businesses to benefit from a special $5 million flood relief fund established by the CWC in July to assist Village of Walton business owners directly affected by the June 29 flood. To qualify for the loans, businesses must have suffered damage that prevented and/or seriously impeded normal operations. Recent reports indicate that 86 businesses sustained flood damage in Walton.

Loan funds, taken from the Catskill Fund for the Future, may be used for costs incurred during flood clean-up, building and grounds restoration and replacement of furniture, fixtures, equipment and inventory. The CWC Board held a special meeting to expedite the first two loans.

The Big M employs 47 people. The supermarket had just undergone expansion and renovation costing an estimated $735,000 when the flood struck. The total loss in inventory, equipment, computers and structural damage is estimated at $1.2 million.

Owners James Groff and Kent Hoyt, staff, families and friends wasted no time in cleaning up and repairing the damage, including replacing cooler motors, window glass and cashier stations, and repairing walls, shelving and the parking lot. The Big M reopened July 15.

The Reporter Company, which employs 19 people, has calculated preliminary losses at nearly $1 million, including equipment and furniture destroyed when several feet of water rampaged through its Delaware Avenue building.

The Reporter staff quickly regrouped and, working out of borrowed office space at Decker Advertising in Delhi, managed to put out a special flood issue just five days after the disaster. It has since resumed regular publication of the weekly paper. The newspaper and job printing business has temporarily set up shop in the Grange Hall on Stockton Avenue. The CWC loan will allow the firm to cover costs of recovery while it awaits processing of its insurance claim and determines where in Walton it will relocate permanently.

Walton businesses interested in discussing the CWC loan program are invited to call 845-586-1400, or toll-free, 877-928-7433.