Title
Gainesville Regional Utilities $100,000 for Economic Development Services (B)
Explanation
At the September 13, 2004 City Commission meeting, the City Commission directed City staff to set aside $100,000 in the FY 2005 Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) contingency budget for economic development services. Furthermore, the City Commission directed General Government and GRU staff to develop a plan for expenditure of said funds.
As a result of a follow-up staff meeting regarding this issue, staff is recommending that the funds be transferred to the City of Gainesville Economic Department's Economic Development Fund 114 to be utilized by staff in the facilitation of private sector economic development projects within the City of Gainesville. Furthermore, staff is recommending that in order to justify provision of funding, projects have an underlying business rationale and meet criteria consistent with those utilized in application of GRU's flex-rate that include: 1) increasing jobs available to all city residents; 2) promoting existing business expansion; 3) diversifying the City's employment sectors; 4) enhancing and supporting the area's workforce development efforts; and 5) enhancing the local revenue base. These criteria are consistent with performance measures found within the recently adopted Strategic Plan for Economic Development.
With the creation of the new position Small & Minority Business Development Coordinator in the Economic Development Department for FY 2005, staff believes that duties formerly provided by the Economic Development Director can be re-assigned and enhanced. This will free up the Economic Development Director to play a greater role in the facilitation of projects that will provide an economic benefit to the community. The $100,000 proposed budget transfer is seen as a resource that can be deployed to supplement the greater emphasis upon project facilitation while concurrently bringing an adequate retur...
Click here for full text