From the La Porte Herald-Angus:
The La Porte County Council has approved creating an Economic Development Office.
Last minute changes were made to the 2013 La Porte County budget by the La Porte County Council at Monday’s special meeting. The county general fund had earlier been $28,000,000 in the hole.
An amount of $135,000 was added to the 2013 budget for the Economic Development Project.
The La Porte County Commissioners presented their mission for the creation of the Economic Development Office at a workshop held before the council meeting.
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The amount proposed was reduced on Monday before the workshop by $40,000.
The request brought before the board for the Economic Development Project was $180,000. The broken down assessment stated $75,000 was for full consulting services advised by Matt Reardon for the business projects presented; $20,000 for financial consultant Karl Cender’s work to economic development strategies, tax incentives and TIF calculations; $40,000 for web design; and $45,000 for travel, advertising and promotion.
Councilman Earl Cunningham motioned a 25 percent reduction of the proposed amount to have $135,000 added to the 2013 Budget for the Economic Development Office.
Cunningham said the amount would fund the project for the first nine months and if it is proven essential to the county, then the council could allocate $45,000 from the riverboat fund.
The motion passed with five councilmen in favor and one against.
The council also reduced the La Porte County Recorder’s budget by giving her $182,000 less for the 2013 budget than in her previous budget in 2012. Recorder Barbara A. Dean, only if she decides, will extract the amount from the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund to pay the salaries of the employees.
The Perpetuation Fund, currently holding $486,000, can only be used and approved by the Recorder for any means she feels fit to preserve the records.
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http://heraldargus.com/articles/2013/01/30/news/local/doc51074c3da869c809381330.txt
