The Daviess County Redevelopment Commission and the county’s Economic Development Commission have both passed resolutions for the first of three bond issues that are expected to produce $13 million in development projects on the east side of Washington. The groups met before and after Monday’s Daviess County Commissioners meeting.
The RDC and the EDC both gave their approval to a $2.1 million bond issue for Grain Processing Corporation. Officials say the first bond will settle a misunderstanding between the county and the company for tax abatements for equipment. “The wording on the 1999 tax abatement was not clear,” said Ron Arnold with the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation. “GPC believed the abatement would cover all equipment put in place over a 10 year period but the county could not legally carry that out. We looked at ways to rectify that and this bond issue appears to be the simplest answer.”
The agreement calls for GPC to purchase the bonds and then they will be paid off by money generated by the GPC Tax Increment Finance District.
The first bond issue still needs approval from the Daviess County Council and it has been put on the agenda for the council meeting in June.
That bond issue is the first of three that are part of a planned development. The second and third bond issues will come from the city of Washington. The second project is for $4.2 million to improve roads and utilities along a planned 22-acre development on the east side of Washington along the CSX railroad tracks behind the new Alliance Barrier Films plant. That project also includes a new bridge over the tracks on 15th Street in Washington.
The third bond issue will cover the construction of a new building and cross-dock loading facility along the tracks at a cost of $6.7 million.
The first bond issue will have a direct impact on GPC and the second and third will help the company and other firms in Daviess County.
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