Ok, that’s helpful. I haven’t talked to ALL banks of course, but any bank so far that I have talked to don’t fund anything unless its tied to real estate or equipment they can value at half market value and sell off immediately. That’s been my limited experience, so if you have a fiber friendly banking institute that breaks the mold, I am all ears.
I think this special assessment deal is going to be all about who I know. I know a few key people in this already, so I do have a leg up. Which probably means I have a ten percent chance of making it go forward instead of a zero percent chance. From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Adam Moffett Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 11:56 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Special Assessment I'm more in Travis's camp, but maybe for different reasons. The accounting and auditing stuff hasn't been difficult to deal with....if you're keeping good records anyway, then it's not bad. You may just have to be more anal than you're used to. For everything we bought with the people's money we had to keep track of where it was installed and demonstrate that it actually was installed where we said (with photos, etc). Then an auditor came by to double check that we weren't making it all up. I agree the gov wants you to have a sound plan before they'll fund you....and that if you really had a sound plan then a bank would fund it. I think one difference is that if the bank doesn't understand what you're doing, they'll just say no because it's not safe for them to get involved in things they don't understand. If the bureaucrat doesn't understand it they'll listen to you and pretend they're getting it. The other funny thing is that I don't think the projects chosen for funding are always the best proposals....sometimes it's the people who talk the best line of BS or who have support from the right people. I'm a cynic, and my involvement in funding is peripheral, so take my 2c with a grain of salt. Sterling's idea is interesting and I hope he's successful with it. I'm not trying to be a killjoy. ------ Original Message ------ From: "Jaime Solorza" <losguyswirel...@gmail.com<mailto:losguyswirel...@gmail.com>> To: "Animal Farm" <af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com>> Sent: 8/11/2016 1:23:34 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Special Assessment The folks from Alaska I work for seem to know how to work the system... They keep getting some choice government contracts. On Aug 11, 2016 11:16 AM, "Travis Johnson" <t...@ida.net<mailto:t...@ida.net>> wrote: Just saying that government money is never what it's cracked up to be. I've never taken a single dime (loan, grant, tax, assessment, etc) and probably never will, with any of my companies. It's just not worth all the extra work and headaches. If you have a sound business plan and operation, just borrow the money and get it done. There are all kinds of ways to be creative when it comes to funding. Leasing equipment, 60 day term credit cards, lines of credit (secured with assets of the business), or even home equity loans (4.25% right now, with interest only payments), etc. Travis On 8/11/2016 10:52 AM, Sterling Jacobson wrote: Definitely. Travis, are you just generally saying the money comes with strings attached, or do you have actual specific experience with Special Assessment in this manner? -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com<mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com>] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 10:51 AM To: af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Special Assessment Yeah, good people find themselves in legal trouble all the time when getting involved with guvmnt money. Less than zero tolerance for even the appearance of evil. -----Original Message----- From: Travis Johnson Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 10:48 AM To: af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Special Assessment You better build in an additional 100% for overhead costs... I would imagine you would have to start doing audited tax returns and financials every year. You will also have to have someone tracking every single expense and what it is attached to, etc. Then you will have all the overhead and administrative costs for managing the paperwork and government related money. Travis On 8/11/2016 10:21 AM, Sterling Jacobson wrote: Has anyone here ever done a special assessment funded project? I have a couple of examples in Utah/Idaho, but am looking for specific examples and advice from my provider friends here. I'm not sure if it's called something else in other states so this is what I have been told: You talk to a land developer, get them to partner up with your company and the city. They allow a tax or assessment item to be attached to the developed lot/unit for around 20 years. Sometime like $150 a year, so $3000 total over the period. The city council agrees and creates a bond type item for that and your company gets a check for the total amount times number of properties. Then you work with the developer to install all of the necessary stuff for internet, which is fiber in my case. And the new property owner has your service available from the get go, maybe with free install, and a $150 a year discount on the service for 20 years. Anyone done anything like this?
