City Council Debates Economic Development Funding

By Dave Freneaux

On August 10th the Central City Council met at 6 PM with approximately 150 in attendance and did not adjourn until 9 PM.  One major topic which sparked heated debate was the city's funding of Economic Development.  The evening began with Wade Giles, President of the Central Economic Development Foundation, being presented with a plaque recognizing Central for it's successful efforts in Economic Development.  The award was given to Central by the Louisiana Municipal Association at its annual meeting the previous weekend.
 
Later in the meeting Council Member DeJohn sponsored an ordinance to ammend the 2010-2011 budget to include an additional $90,000 for Economic Development.  During the lengthy discussion that followed it became clear that these monies would be set aside for the City to spend to promote economic growth, but that none of these funds would be slated to be given to the Central Economic Development Foundation, which is a private non-profit organization in which Central citizens volunteer their time and financial support to attract new businesses to Central.  This growth is understood by most to be absolutely necessary if Central is to have a sufficient sales tax base to support a growing City and School System.  During the debate several who spoke pointed out that the Central Community School System  recently received an A+ Bond Rating, which lowered the interest rate to be paid on the funding for new schools and will save the taxpayers of Central many times the $90,000 being considered.  The Bond Attorney for the School Board stated at Monday's School Board meeting that economic development has contributed positively to the A+ rating and that it will be a continuing factor in future bond ratings.
 
Council Members LoBue and Washington expressed strongly their interest in requiring the Central Economic Development Foundation to make certain changes in its structure before being willing to support this change in the budget.  Mr. Giles explained that the Foundation had already made many of the requested changes and was in the process of accomodating the additional requirements of Council Members Washington and LoBue.  Appropriating the additional $90,000 in support of Economic Development does not obligate Central to spend the money, it simply makes the funding available should the City see value in supporting any economic development effort, including but not limited to expenditures encouraged by the Economic Development Foundation.  Understanding that the City retains complete control over whether these funds are spent and what they support, Council Members DeJohn, Messina and Moak voted in favor of the additional support for economic development.  Council members LoBue and Washington voted against the budget ammendment.