President Valerie Shafer of the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County, Indiana, asked the Hagerstown Town Council to renew its contract for four years.
Hagerstown is one of several towns that pays the county one-half of its economic development income tax, which is then used for the EDC and economic development projects. Hagerstown is paying $48,000 this year, Shafer said. Contracts are renewed every four years.
In the past four years, in addition to luring companies to locate in the county, the EDC helped local businesses invest $534 million, creating 366 new jobs. It has also worked on housing development, downtown redevelopment, blight elimination, talent attraction and quality of life improvements.
Council member Fred Dill asked Shafer to provide a list of projects and their locations in the county.
The council had agreed in October to renew for only one year, with some members saying at the time they did not believe the town was getting its money’s worth. On Nov. 4, council member Brian Longbons asked if the county would consider contract renewal for less than four years, saying the town recently started a $2 million water line replacement project and is looking for ways to help pay the local share.
Jeff Plasterer, president of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, said the commissioners could consider a shorter contract renewal but discourages that option. He reminded listeners that when Richmond and the county formed the EDC more than 25 years ago, town governments agreed to participate because economic development benefits the entire area.
When the EDC formed, the county was a net exporter of jobs, meaning that more residents had to find work outside of the county than came to work here from other counties. Since then, the trend has reversed and the county now attracts more out-of-county residents to work here, Plasterer said.
The county has also contributed more than $10 million to help develop the Indiana Gateway Industrial Park, just south of Hagerstown, where three companies now employ hundreds of people. The EDC also is responsible for developing the Midwest Industrial Park in Richmond.
The town should look beyond projects that are located within the Hagerstown area, he said. The county put in $620,000 this year and the city of Richmond, over $1 million.
The council took no action.
A version of this article appeared in the November 13 2024 print edition of the Western Wayne News.