Cost Estimates Increase for Village-Run Economic Development

The future of . will hang in the balance Tuesday night.

The Village Board is set to vote, perhaps for a final time, on whether to fund the OEDC, a public/private partnership that works to bring new development and business to town. If the board votes not to fund the OEDC, a vote is also scheduled to create a village-run economic development and visitors bureau division.

The meeting’s agenda, which was released Thursday, also shows an increase in the amount Oswego will have to pay to bring those operations into Village Hall. The preliminary estimate provided by staff in May showed the village would need to spend about $205,000 annually. The latest figure estimates costs at about $241,000 annually.

The total annual budget for an economic development staff would be about $160,000, and the visitor’s bureau would be about $80,000. However, projections also show an annual budget surplus for the visitor’s bureau of about $53,000.

The visitor’s bureau would be funded by hotel/motel tax receipts and visitors guide ad sales. The tax fund is projected at about $64,000, while the ad sales are projected at about $70,000.

OEDC Chairman Mike Schoppe said if the Village Board votes Tuesday to not further fund the group, that will most certainly mean the end of the OEDC.

The OEDC board will meeting Wednesday to discuss how to go about dissolving the organization, which suspended operations May 31.

“If there’s no funding, we have to discuss bills that still need to be paid,” Schoppe sad.

Schoppe couldn’t say how much the OEDC owes in outstanding bills, but the figure is at least $16,000 for the annual visitors guide that was delivered to homes last month.

The Village Board voted April 19 to suspend its $85,000 annual commitment to the OEDC in order to study bringing economic development efforts under the auspices of the village. The board then voted May 3 to pay the OEDC what trustees believed the village owed the OEDC for its 2011 commitment through the end of May—$35,000.

However, it was later discovered by village staff that the village had paid its OEDC commitment through April 30 of this year in May 2010. The village then paid what was owed for May, which came to $7,083.33.

Trustees Tony Giles, Terry Michels and Jeff Lawson have each said they support bringing economic development in-house. When asked Monday if he still supports the plan despite higher than original cost projections, Giles said he didn’t feel it would be appropriate to discuss the matter before the board meeting. Michels and Lawson did not respond to requests for comment.

Trustee Gail Johnson, who along with every trustee but Giles traveled May 27 to Geneva to view that city’s in-house economic development department, said Friday that she worries that even the $241,000 figure may be too low.

“I think maybe we’re setting ourselves up for failure here,” she said. “For the amount of money they want to spend, I have to question what are we going to be getting from a village department that we haven’t been getting from the OEDC.”

Attached to this article is the complete Village Board agenda for Tuesday night's meeting.