Township approves consolidation of DDAs to inspire more efficient spending

• Tweet
• 

Union Township consolidated its two Downtown Development Authorities at Wednesday night’s board meeting to improve spending efficiency.

The new Economic Development Authority will combine the two eight-member boards of the township’s former East and West DDAs into one eight-member board.

“The accomplishments that the East and West Downtown Development Authorities have made are very significant,” said Trustee Phil Mikus, “and we should celebrate their progress, but it is time to make a change.”

DDAs construct partnerships between public and private entities to spur economic growth in an area. Union’s former DDAs were the topic of other recent meetings, during which trustees expressed concern about the method of funding for DDAs — capturing taxes.

At a meeting last month, township Supervisor John Barker presented the idea to create the Economic Development Authority.

The current DDA members will not be asked to finish their remaining terms, Barker said. The new board is designed to incorporate diversity and experience. Members include Carol Churchill, Mid Michigan Community College president; Tom Kequom, who has nearly 20 years of East DDA experience; and Jeremy Sheets, president of CMS Internet.

The problem with the change is the EDA is still eligible for the same amount of money that the DDAs were, said David Ling, chairman of the Isabella County Board of Commissioners, so no one knows how this will affect groups whose taxes are being captured.

For the township to not receive all the captured funds, Secretary Pam Stovak said it must enter an agreement.

One way of funding the EDA will be through tax increment authorities, which would still have been a possibility under the two DDA structure, she said.

Jeannie Pfeiffer, Isabella County Commission on Aging advisory board member, supported the consolidation of the DDAs.

“It is beside the point to say they’ve done a good job because they shouldn’t capture money that was supposed to be earmarked for the library or the Commission on Aging or anything else,” Pfeiffer said.

Ken Schaeffer, who spoke during public comment at Wednesday’s meeting, voiced his concern with the idea of removing tax captured funds to pay for the EDA, and was not sure that people would vote to increase their taxes on items the DDAs funded.

The use of tax capture prevents people’s taxes from increasing as much, he said.

“The East DDA could very easily put a sidewalk in between Pickard (Street) and Mid Michigan Community College; The West DDA could put the sidewalks from the city limits to Lincoln,” he said. “These would not directly cost the tax payers money.”