Contact the Pine County Office of Economic Development or one of the communities in the County for information on local resources for business development. These may include:
- Revolving Loan Funds: Pine City, Hinckley and Sandstone all manage local revolving loan funds for local business start-up or development.
- Pine City - Mike Gainor, Community Development Director, 320-315-4885, mgainor@pinecitygov.com
- Hinckley - Mark Perry, City Planner/Zoning Administrator, 320-384-7491, planner@cityofhinckley.com
- Sandstone - Kathy George, City Administrator, 320-245-5241, administrator@sandstonemn.com
- Tax Increment Financing: All county communities have at some time implemented a TIF district. TIF is a tax abatement strategy used to help finance the costs of real estate development to encourage developers to construct buildings or other private improvements and to pay for public improvements.
- Tax Abatement: A taxing jurisdiction agrees to forego some property tax income in order to provide an incentive for business start-up or expansion. The communities and the County all have abatement opportunities.
- Both TIF and Tax Abatement fall under each communities business subsidy policy and/or Pine County's business subsidy policy.
- Inexpensive Industrial Park Land: Pine City, Hinckley and Sandstone all have established industrial or technology park property available for business start-up or relocation.
- Business Incubator: Pine Technical and Community College operates a business incubator targeted at new, technology-based manufacturing or production companies. The incubator provides up to 7800 square feet of production space in a brand-new facility, along with a full program of business support services designed to help a new enterprise become sustainable.
- PTCC - Dawn Sandberg, Continuing Education & Customized Training, 320-629-5184, dawn.sandberg@pine.edu
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PTCC Incubator: http://pineinnovationcenter.com/
Below are a variety of business resources available:
- The Anderson Center Business advice from professionals at the Anderson Center in St. Cloud.
- East Central Regional Development Commission - The East Central Regional Development Commission (ECRDC) can provide gap financing to new, expanding and relocating small businesses in East Central MN.
- Entrepreneur Fund - The Entrepreneur Fund provides business loans for acquisition, expansion, working capital and other needs up to and exceeding $750k.
- East Central Energy - ECE provides electrical service in most of Pine County, and is also a community partner in economic development, gap financing, rebates and incentives.
- Family Assets for Independence in Minnesota FAIM helps low income families save to start businesses with a matching program.
- Great River Energy GRE supplies electricity to the area through ECE and has several loan programs for business start-up or expansion.
- Initiative Foundation - The Initiative Foundation works to create economic opportunity by lending funds to locally owned businesses.
- LegalCORPS Volunteer attorneys willing to help small businesses with legal assistance.
- Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development - DEED offers a variety of business programs, from starting your business to finding the trained workforce you need to suceed.
- Minnesota SCORE Connect to the Minnesota chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives.
- Minnesota Business Finance Corporation The MBFC works with businesses toward packaging of SBA loan applications.
- Minnesota Secretary of State Where you can apply to become a business chartered in Minnesota.
- Property Assessed Clean Energy PACE financing acts as an assessment on your property taxes for financing energy efficiency improvements or clean energy systems like solar panels.
- Procurement Technical Assistance Center Resources for Minnesota businesses looking to contract with or sell to the Federal government.
- Small Business Development Center Connect through DEED to the Central Minnesota SBDC, serving this region out of Brainerd with advice and consultation on business start ups and growth.
- St. Thomas Schulze School of Entrepreneurship Resources at St. Thomas for business startups and innovators.
- US Small Business Administration While they do not do direct lending, SBA works with banks and borrowers to guarantee loans.
- USDA Rural Development This branch of the USDA does lending through several programs to businesses in rural areas.
- WomenVenture Resources for women in business ownership and management.