State .09 funds may be cut off

There are rumblings from Olympia that the tap on economic development funding might be turned off to local governments.

This has prompted concern in Whitman County about outstanding obligations based on income from the funds.

Each year, the county receives a .09 percent share of the state’s portion of sales tax revenues to use on projects that will bolster the local economy.

Fearing the legislature may take that away, commissioners may also hold off on awarding any of the county’s portion of that revenue to fund projects in smaller communities.

Typically, the county receives around $400,000 each year through the .09 program for local economic development projects.

If the .09 funding does go away, the county could be in dire straits.

County commissioners in 2002 issued $2.7 million in revenue bonds to pay for new windows and a new heating system in the courthouse. Those bonds were backed with .09 fund revenues.

Also, for the past three years, the county has been saving .09 dollars for a possible bond issue to fund infrastructure development at the stateline strip mall that has been long proposed by Hawkins Companies of Boise. The county has agreed in principle to issue $9.1 million in bonds for the project

“We’ve got about a million dollars set aside for the corridor, but we may need that to pay off our courthouse improvement bond,” said Commissioner Greg Partch.

Final payment on the courthouse bonds is due in 2015. The county still owes $656,050 on those bonds.

Commissioners Monday said they did not know how this legislature’s .09 decision would impact the Hawkins bonds proposal.

Partch noted the legislature has made previous efforts to do away with the .09 program, but those efforts were blocked by legal challenges from other communities that had bonded against the revenue.

Since .09 funding began coming from the state in 2000, the county has made a portion of those funds available to local communities for development projects. The last several years, commissioners have given the Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee $100,000 to award project proposals which qualify.

Only Lamont and Oakesdale applied for the funding last year, and the committee awarded the two entities a total of $79,604.12.

Commissioners are scheduled to decide next Monday on allocation of .09 dollars for 2011. However, at their workshop session Monday, the commissioners discussed the possibility of withholding those funds. Commissioner Pat O’Neill said he was told by Sen. Mark Schoesler last month that the .09 funding will likely be stoppped.

Commissioner Michael Largent suggested waiting until the legislature ends its session to make a decision.

O’Neill said he would advise Mitch Chandler of Pullman, chair of the Blue Ribbon committee, about the possibility of .09 funds drying up.

Also Monday, commissioners discussed holding the line again on the county’s historic preservation funding.

The county collects funding for projects to commemorate the area’s history from a surcharge on official documents recorded in the auditor’s office.

In 2009, commissioners awarded $18,000 from that fund to the county library district, Rosalia and Whitman County Historical society. That is thus far the only year commissioners have given out the historic preservation funds.

This year, like last, commissioners expect to hold back the funding in order to make a larger sum available in future application rounds. The Blue Ribbon committee also decides on the historic projects.