Two weeks ago Allen County commissioners awarded $180,000 to G&W Foods as part of a package that included $170,000 from Iola Industries, to massage a bid for a new grocery store’s construction that came in $500,000 above expectations.
Prior to discussion and a vote, Iola attorney Chuck Apt suggested commissioners would be well-served if they were to include an economic development line item in the county budget and appoint a committee to decide requests.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Tom Williams proposed doing just that by putting together a blueprint for how to use revenue coming from extraordinary valuation of Enbridge’s pipeline and pumping station and additional revenue, which is likely to materialize if wind farms are built.
The county budget contains about $2 million in a capital outlay fund, fattened by Enbridge initially, that will be enhanced in the years ahead.
If either or both of the wind farms are constructed, the county can expect to receive handsome payments in lieu of taxes over the next 10 years. State law, changed recently from perpetuity to 10 years, forgives property taxes as an incentive.
Commissioners said the line item might become known as the “helping hand,” and that requests would be fielded from existing and prospective businesses.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels added a wrinkle to the idea when he suggested the county might give local county schools financial assistance. Daniels put no dollar figure on such an approach.
Commissioner Jim Talkington, on the other hand, favored using the funds to pay off construction bonds for Allen County Regional Hospital, saying he was one to pay off debt whenever possible.
Before all else, and with a committee in place, Williams championed a marketing plan, to offset “a flood of people coming in wanting money. We need to do (funding decisions) by a process.”
COUNTY commissioners are elected by voters from three districts, but their decision is meant to take into account what is good for all residents, not a third — or a handful.
Wise leaders understand that drawing on the assistance of others, who may have more specialized knowledge in a particular field, is good governance.
That precisely is what they want to do to ensure windfalls, however great or small, that come the county’s way are dispersed in a manner useful for all, from Petrolia to Mildred, from Savonburg to Iola, and everywhere in between.
The sooner the “helping hand” plan is formed, the better.
— Bob Johnson
