Jasper Assists Kerstiens in Application for State Loans

To begin the meeting, a new board for the Commission was elected. Andy Seger will continue in his position as President with Kurt Vonderheide serving as Vice President. Mike Pfau will remain as Secretary. 

The Commission heard that Kerstiens Custom Builders is building a new subdivision on the north side of Jasper. The North Ridge Estates will add an additional 155 living dwellings. This will include 28 4-unit villas, with the remaining units as single-family homes. 

Developer Ruger Kerstiens has already appeared before multiple government bodies, including Jasper’s Redevelopment Commission and Common Council. The developer expects an outlay of approximately 5 to 6 million dollars in infrastructure expenses. As these will be a benefit to Jasper residents, Kerstiens was granted the use of special TIF funding and other financial incentives in order to help fund these expenses. The City of Jasper has made significant investments to help defray infrastructure expenditures to help the developer provide more affordable units, as the costs would have to be passed on to the consumer if alternate funding could not be secured. 

As part of this process, Kerstiens has applied to the Residential Housing Infrastructure Assistance Program (or RIF) through the Indiana Finance Authority. The RIF program provides low interest loans to Indiana communities to finance infrastructure projects like the North Ridge subdivision. The City has to be the applicant, but the developer will be securing the bond by a letter of credit that has been approved by the Indiana Finance Authority. 

The loan would allow Kerstiens to develop the infrastructure that supports the subdivision and was described as a critical part of the funding still needed. Since these loans are considered to be economic development bonds, they must be brought before the Economic Development Commission for approval. The Commission approved the request and explained that this is the last step in the process as far as City approval. It was also noted that while the City is required to serve as the RIF applicant, this does not financially obligate the City of Jasper, as Kersteins will be responsible for the repayment of funds. 

For more information on these and other updates, visit jasperindiana.gov or JasperGov-Indiana on Facebook.