Time to demand EDIT accountability (02/21/08)

Sometimes both sides (government and the public) forget that it's our money.

And sometimes we need a little, or a lot, more accountability.

This is one of those times.

The recent revelation that potentially millions of dollars in Jay County economic development income tax (EDIT) funds have been loaned or given away largely away from the public eye should serve as an impetus for change.

County EDIT, which was adopted in the early 1990s as a way to target tax dollars towards bringing more jobs to the county, has provided plenty of positive benefits.

Among those benefits have been the purchase of land for industrial parks, the construction of buildings that were later occupied by industry, and selected loans that provided gap financing.

Literally hundreds of jobs have been created through use of EDIT, and our community is a better place because of it.

But problems with EDIT loans - first revealed by The Commercial Review last year and detailed in length and depth in Saturday's edition of The CR - need to be fixed quickly.

Because Jay County shares a portion of its EDIT dollars with other communities, it is supposed to retain a measure of control of how that money is used. That control includes authority over plans for use of EDIT money, called capital improvement plans.

But it appears that the spending of most EDIT funds by towns and cities in the county gradually slipped out of the public eye and into the domain of not-for-profit private development corporations.

Most city and town councils simply pass along their share (and the share allocated by the county) to the private groups.

Those groups, which in some cases are influenced but not controlled by elected officials accountable to the public, have made some wise - and some not-so-wise - choices in spending those funds.

Loans, most of which were never discussed or approved by public agencies, were made to some now-closed businesses and in at least two cases, to volunteer fire departments.

It's time for government - in this instance, Jay County - to take back control.

New JCDC executive director Bill Bradley is expected to propose soon a series of reforms for EDIT loans. While those reforms make sense - including requiring a formal application and documentation of the loan, requiring collateral and mandating the creation of jobs in exchange for the loan - they will only cover loans made through the county, not through cities and towns.

Here are a series of minimal steps we recommend for Jay County Commissioners to regain a measure of control over EDIT funds:

•Ask JCDC to lead a comprehensive review of the way EDIT funds are being spent in Jay County, and suggest possible changes or modifications. The commissioners should incorporate those suggestions into the county's EDIT plan.

•Provide real oversight for EDIT spending, making sure EDIT dollars are used in accordance with capital improvement plans for each city and town. Copies of those plans are already on file with the county auditor.

•Increase scrutiny for EDIT loans made by the county and communities, with an eye kept on avoiding government-subsidized competition for existing businesses.

•Insist on accountability regarding EDIT funds.

A variety of local officials and entities - including this newspaper - bear responsibility for allowing the EDIT process to slip out of the public's view.

Let's all work together to make certain it doesn't happen again. - M.S.

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