Hey, buddy, can you spare $15 million?

Having committed last week to $15 million worth of infrastructure at Hawkins Companies’ stateline shopping center, Whitman County commissioners are now looking for the money.

“Just 15 million balls up in the air this week,” said Administrative Director Gary Petrovich.

Commissioners voted 2-1 last Tuesday to provide the funding after Boise-based Hawkins asked for an additional $5.9 million on the county’s 2008 agreement to provide $9.1 million for development of the site.

Commissioners are looking into several sources including state funding, revenue bonds and credit lines with area banks. The agreement with Hawkins calls for the county to repay the company for building roads, water and sewer systems, lights and a fire station at the site.

If work begins this year, Hawkins will begin to send bills as soon as August, said Petrovich.

Commissioner Pat O’Neill said Hawkins is now seeking tenants to set up shop at the 714,000-square-foot shopping center on the company’s site on the Washington state line.

Hawkins purchased the 198 acres from Whitworth University in 2008 for $5.45 million.

“I’ve got to trust those companies have researched this area if they’re going to move in,” said O’Neill. “I truly believe if we don’t let them set up here, they’ll build in Moscow.”

The deal with the county requires the firm secure at least 250,000-square feet of retail occupancy before getting reimbursement from the county.

First place the county will look is to state agencies. Commissioner Greg Partch said he was advised by Joe Poire, executive director of the Port of Whitman County, to apply to the state Public Works Trust Fund and to the Community Economic Revitalization Board.

“I think the word ‘hope’ might be fitting,” Poire said in a telephone interview Tuesday while he was in Olympia lobbying for telecommunications legislation.

Poire said the trust fund is currently under a moratorium from granting construction loans. Officials in Olympia, though, are working to lift that, he said.

Partch said a loan from the Public Works fund would be preferable, as the county may be able to borrow the entire amount at a low interest rate, one percent over 20 years, according to the fund’s web site.

The fund exists to help local governments pay for critical infrastructure pieces like water, sewer and stormwater systems, as well as roads, bridges and trash facilities.

Another option is to apply for a grant from the Community Economic Revitalization Board.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has asked the legislature to dedicate $15 million overall for CERB grants throughout the state.

“I think that’s a good omen for us,” said Partch during the commissioners’ meeting Monday.

Poire said there is currently about $1.5 million in the CERB coffers. The port has received CERB grants to help build the ISR building in its Pullman Industrial Park and to bring water out to its new industrial park in north Pullman.

Applications to CERB are due Jan. 30, said Partch, with awards announced in March.

“If we do decide to approach that, time is of the essence,” said Partch. “But I think it’s a question of dusting off the old grant and getting the new statistics in there.”

The CERB board in 2008 approved a $5 million grant for the Hawkins project before scoring errors were revealed that bumped the county off the list.

Officials in Gov. Gregoire’s office then came up with a $2 million funding package for the county, in which it will receive up to $200,000 a year from the state’s share of sales taxes generated at the shopping center. That funding begins only when the state begins to collect those sales taxes.

The third option would be to bond against expected revenues from the site.

“We certainly don’t want to commit ourselves to the bond until we know what we’ll get from the state,” said Petrovich.

Petrovich and Treasurer Robert Lothspeich also plan to meet with Columbia Bank to see if the county can get a line of credit to pay for the first year’s costs in case bonds or state funding do not come in by the time construction bills are due.

Petrovich pointed out interest on a bond issue would be at least four points higher than a one percent state loan.

“All I’m trying to do is save the county as much money as possible,” he explained.

The bond option was moved to a back burner after Jack McLaughlin, bond agent for D.A. Davidson, sent written notice two weeks ago that his firm declined to participate in the funding.

The firm’s notice was among items listed by Prosecutor Denis Tracy and others in opposition to the county agreeing to the increase to the county’s commitment to Hawkins.

Commissioner Michael Largent, who voted “no” last week, was upset the contract amendment was not reviewed by Tracy before it was approved.

“I’ve always been in favor of the project, I just thought we needed more time to look it over,” said Largent. “I lost that vote. Now it’s my job to make sure this deal can work in Whitman County’s favor.”

If it does, said Partch, the county could realize $11 to $18 million in additional sales and property taxes over the next 20 years.