July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
It's time to tighten up EDIT process (12/13/07)
Editorial
Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bill Bradley is hammering out details of a major overhaul of how loans of Economic Development Income Tax funds are going to be handled in the future.
That's an essential first step in the wake of the sloppy and casual manner in which iffy loans were made to a wireless Internet provider, loans that are unlikely ever to be repaid.
Any loan process reform should be founded on some basic principles.
The first is transparency.
Taxpayer money is involved, and taxpayers ought to be able to examine how those funds are being handled every step of the way.
That means that local EDIT advisory committees - which are, after all, governmental committees - are going to have to start paying better attention to Indiana's open meetings law.
Some of those committees have functioned as if they were subsets of JCDC rather than local government, and some have failed to abide by the rules on public notice and public access to meetings.
The second is security. As loan documents made public this week demonstrate, it's important that lending of EDIT funds be backed with meaningful collateral.
Any bank would require proper security, and if anything the standard ought to be higher when public funds are involved.
The good news coming out of what we fear is going to prove to be an expensive lesson is that JCDC and Bradley are serious about reforming the system and getting it back on track.
It's also good news simply to note that in Jay County EDIT dollars have continued to be directed toward economic development.
The legislature loosened the strings on EDIT funds significantly in recent years, and in some counties they're spent on everything from sidewalks to swingsets, with no connection to economic development at all.
Properly used and closely managed, EDIT funds can be a tremendous tool. And they've made some very good things happen in this county.
But as Bradley noted last week, the "loosey goosey" days are over.
It's time to tighten up the process. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
That's an essential first step in the wake of the sloppy and casual manner in which iffy loans were made to a wireless Internet provider, loans that are unlikely ever to be repaid.
Any loan process reform should be founded on some basic principles.
The first is transparency.
Taxpayer money is involved, and taxpayers ought to be able to examine how those funds are being handled every step of the way.
That means that local EDIT advisory committees - which are, after all, governmental committees - are going to have to start paying better attention to Indiana's open meetings law.
Some of those committees have functioned as if they were subsets of JCDC rather than local government, and some have failed to abide by the rules on public notice and public access to meetings.
The second is security. As loan documents made public this week demonstrate, it's important that lending of EDIT funds be backed with meaningful collateral.
Any bank would require proper security, and if anything the standard ought to be higher when public funds are involved.
The good news coming out of what we fear is going to prove to be an expensive lesson is that JCDC and Bradley are serious about reforming the system and getting it back on track.
It's also good news simply to note that in Jay County EDIT dollars have continued to be directed toward economic development.
The legislature loosened the strings on EDIT funds significantly in recent years, and in some counties they're spent on everything from sidewalks to swingsets, with no connection to economic development at all.
Properly used and closely managed, EDIT funds can be a tremendous tool. And they've made some very good things happen in this county.
But as Bradley noted last week, the "loosey goosey" days are over.
It's time to tighten up the process. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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