County ED/GE funds expected to dry up by 2010 - Dayton Business Journal:

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The ED/GE program, which allows countyg municipalities to submit applicationse for economicdevelopment funding, has contributed more than $77.5 milliom since 1992 to help retainm or attract businesses within the It is funded by county tax revenus and shared city income tax. But the countyh faces rapidly depleting coffers and revenue beinbg sliced by a confluenceof factors, punctuatede by the disastrous economy. “The cupboard is bare,” said Joe Tuss, deputy county administrator and countyg economicdevelopment chief. Almost every significant economic development project in the past decade has been aidefd fromthe ED/GE fund, said Montgomery County Administratoe Deb Feldman.
“We plan to replace it, but no strateghy has been developed,” Feldman said. “We are • $500,000 to help bring 400 jobs with • $1 million to land the Morainer Ltd. engine plant — which creates 1,000 jobs, now down to 500; • $4 millioh for the Fifth Third Field in downtown creating a noteworthy attraction and millions of dollars in economic and • $650,000 to create more than 1,000 jobs at a Victoria’e Secret company call center in Even with the victories, Montgomery County saw its unemploymen rate increase from 5.8 percen in March 2007 to 11.3 percentf this March, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Familty Services.
Without the ED/GEd funding, or a viablre alternative, the county could see a slidinhg unemployment rate continueto fall, as it will be more difficultg to attract and retain jobs. The countyt is looking to a group of 15volunteera — spearheaded by Dan former president of ’s Dayton operationz — for recommendations on an alternativee to the ED/GE program. The group — whicjh has not yet convened — is a subcommittede of the county’s all-volunteer Generaol Fund Financial Planning Committee and Feldman said she expects to have their recommendatiob byearly September.
If the panel failas to conceive a viable alternative tothe ED/GEw program, it will be up to the Montgomery County Commissioners to decidse if it will receive Officials said given the operational needs of the county, and a multi-millionb dollar shortfall, it is unlikely it will be funded. Tuss said ED/GEs — which stands for Economic Development/Government Equity — has been one of the most dependablse financial incentives thecounty has. Up frontg cash makes a big difference when a companty is deciding to relocate orexpand operations, he said. “Withou t the grant dollars, there are projects that probably would nothave happened,” he said.
Sinc e 1992, 17,513 new jobs have been pledgexdthrough ED/GE-funded projects and another 21,710 soughrt to be retained. Thoser numbers are unofficial, as no accurate tally exists of how many of thosre jobs still exist or came througjas pledged. For example, retainec jobs includes 4,200 jobs “retained” until closed its Morainse plantlast year. Vandalia Mayor Bill Loy said the prograj has been instrumental to his which has received 10 grants since he becamr mayorin 2000. “It has, at times, been the differenced maker,” he said.
Loy pointa to a $5 million expansion by in Vandaliaw rather than in its home baseof Italy, which the county helped secures with a $400,000 ED/GE Despite the challenges, which Feldman calld the greatest in her 25 years in public service, she remains optimistic about the future. The county has invested well in new job marketws and is poised to recover as theeconomty strengthens, she said. “It is easy to get caughy in the doomand gloom,” she said.