County Finance Committee To Hear From Jerseyville Regarding Enterprise Zone
JERSEYVILLE - If you have questions about representations made by local government officials regarding the Intermodal Zone and related issues, the Jersey County Board Finance Committee will meet this evening at 7:00 PM in the County Annex auditorium to examine the issue. The meeting will enable the city of Jerseyville to bring a contingent to speak regarding the Intermodal Zone and creation of yet another TIF district. The city has to date refused to produce specific requested public documents regarding the not for profit corporate entity they formed, the Jerseyville Economic Development Council (JEDC), yet the mayor is quoted saying the city has not spent any money on the project. This less than candid representation about city involvement and funding regarding the project from the mayor is one of the many things that the public appears to have questions about.
Shari Albrecht, who now is the executive director of JEDC, has said that the JEDC involvement was mostly limited to the recruiting of the business. “The project itself is 100 percent privately funded, so there is no municipal money, there is no state money in it, so it’s a private business development, no different from any other kind of private business that happens." The truthfulness of the representation may be seen by some to be lacking in that it appears that substantial money has been solicited from local municipalities as well as substantial city resources being used to create the economic development zone and the not for profit JEDC. The statements of both the mayor and executive director do not appear to consider or take into account that the loss of millions of dollars via tax and fee reductions without a corresponding guarantee or agreement from the businesses of increased government revenue from other sources could well make the project heavily subsidized by local citizens.
The latest information available shows that the JEDC board has seven members. Of these seven, four are not county residents and two reside out of state. The two out of state residents represent Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) and the Chief Executive Officer of Stonemont Financial. Stonemont historically will seek to build and lease on zone property for investors. It's likely that the KCS and Stonemont representatives have conflicts of interest with regard to being on the not for profit JEDC board. Not for profit organizations are supposed to have strict guidelines with regard to conflicts of interest that are governed by Internal Revenue Service rules. The IRS advises in part, "...prohibited, by statute, from allowing inurement of net earnings or assets of the organization to benefit any insider. An insider is a person who has a personal or private interest in the activities of the organization such as an officer, director, or a key employee."
Albrecht, while on the payroll of the Jersey County Economic Development, Inc., an organization that has been historically worked for regional development and was housed at the Jersey County Business Association, moved her office into the Jerseyville City Hall and began working with the organization formed by the city, the Jerseyville Economic Development Council. An entity that somewhat duplicated the older county agency. It appears the not for profit board of the new JEDC may well attempt to promote a policy that would impact local residents for generations by guaranteeing businesses locating in the zone tax abatement or reductions with no corresponding guarantee of job creation from the businesses receiving the benefit to offset the abatements or reductions.
The meeting agenda shows only one slot for public comment, and that period is at the beginning of the meeting before the City of Jerseyville makes their presentation before the County Board. It appears there will be no ability to raise issues after the presentation and the Finance Committee is scheduled to immediately make a recommendation to the County Board during this meeting.
If residents have questions, this may be the first and last time they will get to raise them. Here is your chance to demand proof that the numbers used to generate jobs and growth are realistic and will benefit the region and not a handful of businesses with seats on the not for profit board that public money helped to create.
