By BETTINA PUCKETT, Shelbyville News staff writer
Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson said Thursday the city will step up and fill the funding gap left by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners this week when the board cut the Shelby County Development Corp.’s 2006 EDIT allocation from $50,000 down to $3,500.
“To the city, the SCDC is invaluable,” Furgeson said. “We cannot go without an economic development person.”
Furgeson said he will ask the Shelbyville City Council next year to earmark a total of $105,000 for the SCDC to use in 2006. That amount will include the annual amount of $55,000 the city gives to the SCDC in its Economic Development Income Tax plan — plus an additional $50,000 of EDIT money.
The extra $5,000 that the city gives to the SCDC each year is to pay for lobbying efforts on getting pull-tabs — which are similar to slot machines — at Indiana Downs, although those attempts have been unsuccessful thus far. A bill in the General Assembly to bring pull-tabs to horse tracks was rejected earlier this year.
Furgeson spoke at the monthly meeting of the SCDC, which was held at 7:30 a.m., at the Blue River Career Center, 801 St. Joseph St. More than 30 SCDC members attended.
The next episode in the SCDC funding crisis could occur at Monday’s meeting of the county commissioners when Larry Martin, SCDC treasurer, is scheduled to present a financial report.
Doug Warnecke, president of the commissioners, said that the county’s EDIT plan will come back to the commissioners in its finalized format at the board’s Oct. 31 meeting.
Warnecke, who regularly attends SCDC meetings, said his goal Thursday morning was to assure members that Shelby County was not pulling out of the nonprofit organization. “We plan to still be a part of the SCDC,” he said.
The commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the county’s EDIT plan Monday night after some tweaking that included cuts to the SCDC, the Fiber Optics Board and Shelby County Life Long Learning.
Originally, the commissioners planned to allocate $390,000 to help pay down the jail debt, but after making $106,000 worth of EDIT cuts — plus taking additional money out of EDIT — the figure now set to go toward the jail debt in 2006 is $722,500.
However, Warnecke said after the meeting that the county is examining the legal aspects of paying off the jail debt early. “We’re having research done right now,” he said.
“We want to know the full impact of what this will do for the taxpayers and the county’s general fund,” he said. “Are we actually paying money straight out of EDIT with minimal impact, or will this cause a ripple effect throughout the whole tax levy that will cause a financial hardship on county government?”
Warnecke said the county has received conflicting impact statements. “We have to make sure we understand this thing top to bottom,” he said.
Shelbyville resident Dwain Laird and others have been trying for years to convince the commissioners to earmark the originally committed 75 percent of EDIT funds to the jail debt, rather than allocate a smaller amount, as has been done in recent years. The $722,500 represents the 75 percent figure.
While some citizens believe it is appropriate to earmark 75 percent for reducing the jail debt, many at the SCDC meeting did not appreciate this happening at the expense of their organization.
“The only answer to (the county’s) funding problems is growth,” said Tim Barrick, a member of the Shelbyville Board of Works and vice president of Indianapolis-based Ratio Architects Inc., the consultant that Shelby County hired to rewrite its comprehensive plan.
Barrick said at the meeting that he believes the county needs to “show some leadership” and spell out exactly what its plan is for economic development — in the form of something other than the comprehensive plan.
While many of the SCDC members acknowledged the fight over the EDIT money would be contentious, many said they hoped the issue would not create a division between the city and county.
“It would be wrong to mentally, physically and socially draw a barrier between Shelbyville and Shelby County,” Warnecke said. “But there will always be people who will take the low road.”
“Most of the growth and tax base comes from the city,” Furgeson said. “We’re going to take the high road and do what we can to get through this. Things in the city are going extremely well.”
Warnecke said he did not attend the meeting to separate himself from fellow commissioners Tony Newton and Roger Laird. “I voted for the (EDIT) plan, although we disagreed on certain items,” he said. “But the three of us are in this together. If Roger and Tony were here right now, they would agree with what I’m saying.”
SCDC members said they believe local citizens need additional education on where their tax money comes from. They also said that if the various sides involved could avoid mud-slinging and just stick to the facts, the debate on EDIT funds would go much smoother.
After the commissioners cut the SCDC’s funding on Monday, Theobald said he received numerous phone calls from people who said they can’t afford to join the SCDC, but would like to help. “Four people called me and asked how they could run for office,” he said.
Theobald said the SCDC has the smallest budget of any economic development group in central Indiana.
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