CD buys aimed at helping businesses

01 June 2009

Denver Business Journal - by Renee McGaw

Doug Milliken, Arapahoe County treasurer, sits outside the Colorado Business Bank in Littleton. The county is buying CDs from the bank with the requirement they use the cash to make local business loans.

Last year, Doug Milliken watched Congress hammer out measures to boost bank lending, and doubted that much of that money would reach businesses in his county.

"I was thinking, well, people aren't really thinking about Arapahoe County," said Milliken, the county's treasurer. "Crisis is always an opportunity and I thought this is a good time to bring something home to the county."

So he came up with his own local stimulus program.

In the past month, Arapahoe County has bought $5 million in one-year certificates of deposit (CDs) from three locally owned banks - Colorado Business Bank, Citywide Banks, and Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. The banks have agreed to use the cash to make loans to Arapahoe County businesses.