Paris Breakdowns $130,000 for Economic Development

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ELLIJAY, Ga — At the January 8th, 2015 Board of Commissioners meeting commission chair Charlie Paris mentioned that the county was in works with the cities of Ellijay and East Ellijay to spend $130,000 to hire an Economic Development Director. (See the story: Paris Doesn’t Plan On Wasting Any Time)FYN asked Paris to breakdown the cost of the $130,000 that would be spent. Below you will see the questions that FYN asked and the responses Paris gave:

FYN asked: Could you break down the $130,000 that it is projected to cost that was referenced at the meeting? (Is all of that for salary or is it for other things too? If so, please separate the cost for me.)

Paris answered: The $130,000 (Actually $129,300, but we rounded it up for our conversation) consists of $2500 for accounting, $800 for a laptop for the person chosen for the position, $2500 for dues and subscriptions, as communication and marketing will be paramount, $500 for insurance, $1000 for legal fees, $1000 for Office Supplies, $2500 for postage, $77,000 for salary of the individual chosen for the position, $1500 for telephone service, $20,000 for Travel and Entertainment, and $20,000 for Marketing. Obviously, these are estimates but should be sufficient to hire a qualified individual and allow him/her to have sufficient resources to do a good job.

FYN asked: Why is the county paying $90,000 and the cities combining for the other $40,000?

Paris answered: The split of $90,000/$40,000 is based primarily on the size of the respective budgets and incomes, with some consideration given to the fact that any new business coming in will likely end up within the boundaries of one of the cities. Neither the county or the cities have this kind of money to spare, but the feeling is that we just have to do something and we believe this is the best opportunity we have to ultimately grow our tax base and increase revenue coming in to both the county and the cities WITHOUT a tax hike. We’ve taken some flack about it but in every case, when I’ve asked for alternative proposals, there have been none. What we don’t want is to be sitting here a few years from now having done nothing, and therefore having accomplished nothing.

FYN asked: Are the two cities splitting the cost at $20,000 each?

Paris answered: It is still unclear how the $40,000 will be split between the cities, and that is something that they are working out among themselves. I’ve told them that I don’t care as long as the total is $40,000.

FYN asked: Will the position of Economic Development Director be housed at the chamber of commerce?

Paris answered: The Chamber has offered space to house the new Economic Development Director, and that is the assumption that is built into the proposed budget. In looking at it, you will see that no funds were allocated for office space. This will also allow the selected individual to utilize the Chamber’s support staff and resources. This, however, will not be a Chamber initiative in the sense that the Chamber will be running the effort. The Chamber will be more like a silent partner, providing office space and support without having the project under their control. The proposed Joint Development Authority between the County and the Cities will have the responsibility of overseeing the entire effort, and not the Chamber – or the County.

FYN asked: Do you have any idea of a projected date of when someone will be hired for the position?

Paris answered: I don’t expect that anyone can be located and hired in the first quarter of this year. We still have to get the JDA approved by all entities and the funding in place before we can even begin the search for someone. I would certainly hope that we can have all this in place fairly early in the second quarter. Contrary to some speculation, we do not have a particular candidate in mind already. There will be a search team formed whose job it will be to search out and hire the best qualified candidate that can be had for the salary we can pay. I should point out that qualifications are not the sole criteria here. Equally important will be to find someone that already has the necessary network of contacts to be effective in bringing development to Gilmer.

Keep checking back with FYN for more as the county makes more decisions on the hiring of an economic development director.

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