DES MOINES (AP) - A Denison computer software manufacturer was granted state economic development loans worth $329,000 Nov. 12 for an expansion that it said will create 27 new jobs.

Professional Computer Systems Co., a privately held company that currently has 20 employees, provides accounting, billing and customer management software to municipal utilities and rural electricity cooperatives.

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The loans will come from the Iowa Values Fund, a $503 million, seven-year economic development initiative approved by state lawmakers earlier this year.

Gov. Tom Vilsack and lawmakers said they hope it helps boost the state's faltering economy by creating as many as 50,000 jobs.

PCS, which has been in Denison for 21 years, recently released a new accounting application after investing $1.4 million and is working on creating new customer information and billing software that will cost about $1.6 million.

The loans will help complete that project, the fourth to be supported by the Iowa Values Fund. The board that oversees the fund earlier approved grants and loans of $10 million for a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage expansion, $1 million to the New York-based software company GCommerce and $9 million to Sioux Center-based Trans Ova Genetics.

Half the money will be given to PCS as a seven-year loan at 2 percent interest. The other half is a 10-year forgivable loan at 6 percent interest. If the company hires the people it promised and meets budget projections, it will not need to be repaid.

The Iowa Values Board expects to consider seven or eight applications for funding over the next few months, said Mike Blouin, Iowa Department of Economic Development director.

About 40 companies already have submitted applications out of about 215 that expressed interest in the funding. Many of the applicants are biotechnology companies and manufacturers, Blouin said.

"In most cases, on the manufacturing side, we're trying to stabilize an existing company," he said. "We're trying to help companies make the transition from 20th to 21st century manufacturing and that's expensive."

Hundreds of small companies are trying to make that transition and "many of them won't," Blouin said. "We are working with a growing number that we believe have a good chance of making that change with some help."