Budget on mind of JCDC

The county’s most prominent economic development organization has spent more than it has taken in for more than 10 years.
That has to change soon, the director of Jay County Development Corporation said Tuesday.
Bill Bradley told members of his board that the JCDC executive committee continues to discuss ways to increase funding — a topic that has been an issue since Bradley came aboard several years ago.
“We’re getting down to the point where we have about one year of reserves (about $50,000) … we know we can’t operate in this situation much longer,” Bradley said.
JCDC, which was created in the mid-1980s during a time of severe economic distress, receives 89 percent of its funding (about $207,000) from government sources. Three-fourths of that public funding is from Jay County and most of that money comes from the county’s Economic Development Income Tax.
A fundraising campaign in the community has been discussed by JCDC in the past, and Bradley said Tuesday that remains a possibility.
The group also plans to ask cities and towns to increase contributions — something that has been done by Portland several times over the past few years. Doug Stanley, a member of the JCDC board and a former Redkey Town Council member, said Tuesday that Redkey’s contribution will be increased to $2,500 this year from $1,500.
In his monthly update on activity, Bradley said that work continues to be done in preparation for a proposed wind farm in southern Jay County and northern Randolph County.
He said officials from both counties are working on a development agreement that would outline terms for the company developing the project. The agreement, among other things, would obligate the company to reimburse the counties for damage to roads during construction along with other financial considerations.
Bradley said that officials are currently conducting wildlife surveys in the area to determine if a threatened species of brown bat is present. If the bats are present, it could delay the wind project.
In other business, members of the JCDC board:
•Learned that Bradley and officials from MyFarms met recently with Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman in hopes of attracting state funding. The project, which will help farmers develop and analyze data from satellite farming technology, is already backed by EDIT commitments from both the county and city of Portland.
•Were reminded by Ami Huffman, Jay County Community Developer, that an announcement on a Stellar Communities Grant from the State of Indiana should be made by March 10. Portland is one of 12 finalists for the grants, which will be given to two Indiana communities.
Portland is asking for about $4.5 million that will be used for a variety of north-side projects — including a major effort to separate sewers.[[In-content Ad]]