LOCAL Program funding cycle now open

The Office of the State Treasurer’s LOCAL Program is now open for applications.

The LOCAL Program provides Washington local governments (including cities, counties, school districts, fire districts, and others) with a cost-effective way to finance equipment and real estate projects, including property acquisition and new facility construction. The program’s benefits include low fees, technical assistance, and access to the public bond markets.

LOCAL financing is structured as a financing contract (lease) and offered through the Office of the State Treasurer (OST). OST then pools the various lease agreements across all LOCAL participants and packages them as a security called a “Certificate of Participation.” Because of this, OST is able to provide low interest rate loans (as low as 1.14%!) for local governments. AWC recently partnered with OST to host a webinar to provide additional information about the LOCAL program. View the webinar recording.

The application cutoff date for equipment financing is Friday, March 13. The application cutoff for real estate financing is Wednesday, April 1. To retrieve the instructions and forms for the application, please visit the OST’s LOCAL page.