The Commissioners Court, representatives from most of the municipalities, and business leaders from across the county discussed for over two hours on Monday what amount the county should fund the Orange County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) next year. Jessica Hill the Executive Director of the EDC requested the county fund $375,000 the same amount as this year.
County Judge Dean Crooks believes in the year of a tight budget like the one Orange County is facing it would be appropriate to consider cutting back some of the funding for the Economic Development Corporation. He pointed out that more than half the funds requested by Hill does not have a specific purpose. “I can’t guarantee that any amount of funding is going to bring in businesses, but I can guarantee that any money that we save will stay in Orange County,” Crooks stated. “We have a lot of bills and three hundred, seventy-five thousand dollars pays quite a few of them.”
The judge received no support from the other members of the Commissioners Court. Hill had the room full of supporters from the business community and many spoke in favor of the county at least matching the same funding as this year or even increasing the Economic Development Corporation’s budget.
At the conclusion of the meeting Commissioner John Gothia summed up the reason for support of funding the EDC. He appreciated the number of people that attended the workshop to speak in favor of the EDC. Gothia added that he committed when he ran for commissioner his support for economic development. “Not funding it at this point would hurt us more than saving the money would help us. We have to support it, it’s the only opportunity we have to grow,” Gothia commented.
Monday was a workshop. Tuesday the Commissioners Court will vote to continue membership in the Economic Development Corporation and the funding for it during the regular meeting which will be at 2:00 PM in the Commissioners Courtroom of the Administration Building.
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