The county legislature will hold a special session Monday to consider spending $250,000 on marketing and economic development in 2010.
The proposal gives the money to the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency and the IDA Board of Directors decide how it wants to spend $150,000 on marketing. The remaining $100,000 is spent on development of existing business parks in the county.
The funds would come from the 2009 budget’s contingency fund, county officials said.
If approved, the proposal marks a major increase in the county’s spending on marketing, from $15,000 paid to Mohawk Valley EDGE in recent years, and a shift in decision making responsibilities to the IDA board and staff.
Business park development spending has been presented to county officials for review — $50,000 for planning and design costs, $20,000 for five new signs and $30,000 for park maintenance, legal and miscellaneous costs.
But deciding how the $150,000 would be spent is something that would be left to the IDA board, which does include two county legislators, John Piseck and Vincent Bono.
The IDA officials will spend funds as a “working plan” for marketing progresses throughout the year, Piseck, newly-appointed IDA board chairman, said during prior presentations.
Some potential costs include hiring a marketing firm and travel costs, as Piseck presented to county legislators.
Piseck could not be reached for comment Friday.
Several neighboring counties do not subscribe to the same approach of allowing an IDA board to manage county funds for marketing.
The Oneida County Legislature enters into a contract with Mohawk Valley EDGE, a private not-for-profit corporation, to market the county’s business interests, according to Timothy Dunn, EDGE vice president for marketing and business development.
The county paid $365,600 to EDGE in 2009 and has proposed to maintain that amount in 2010, according to figure provided by EDGE officials.
Dunn declined to provide a cost for Herkimer County to enter into a contract, similar to Oneida’s, for marketing services. But he did say it would be a lower cost for Herkimer due to the population difference and a different scale and scope of work.
For the $15,000 contribution in recent years, Herkimer County received services that Dunn described as “a lot of the homework of economic development.”
The Oneida County Industrial Development Agency, which receives no funding from the county legislature, enters into a contract with EDGE to provide staff services, Dunn said. The IDA paid $140,000 in 2009 and will pay $145,000 in 2010 to have the EDGE’s 13 full-time professional employees provide staff services, he added.
Fulton County will spend $75,000 in 2010 on economic development marketing, according to Jon Stead, clerk of the county Board of Supervisors. The funds are used for a contract with Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, he said.
Fulton County Industrial Development Agency receives no county funds, Stead said.
The Herkimer County Legislature special session is in the legislative chambers at 6:30 p.m.
Read the whole story in Saturday's edition of The Evening Telegram.
