The Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority has issued $30 million in tax-exempt financing to OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) as it continues to invest in its software development and infrastructure to serve libraries globally from its Central Ohio headquarters. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the OCLC financing is the first Finance Authority financing that is now permitted under changes to the bank qualified bond rules from the Federal Stimulus package. These changes allow each 501(c)(3) institution to issue up to $30 million in tax-exempt financing annually for capital projects and benefit from the lower interest rates that the bank qualified status of the bonds.

More than half of the $30 million will be used to refund an earlier issuance of bonds to take advantage of the more favorable interest rate. With the remainder of the proceeds, OCLC plans to make improvements that include upgrading office systems, computers, servers, computer software and other information databases. This project will facilitate the creation and retention of 20 jobs and was undertaken in partnership with National City Commercial Capital Corporation.

The 2009 investment is the second project in two years where the Authority has assisted OCLC. In 2008, the Authority issued $20 million in tax-exempt financing to assist OCLC with an equipment lease that created 42 full-time jobs.

The Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority is in its third year of operations and has issued $78.7 million in bond financing, closing on nine projects that will invest over $139 million and create over 900 jobs in Central Ohio. More information about the authority can be found on their website.