IDA seeks additional Funds to Market County to Companies

Ahh the timeless saying that you get what your pay for. And if this years marketing budget for the County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) is any indication of past funding, we have definitely gotten what we have paid into attempting to lure companies to our wonderful selection of business parks, including the Pumpkin Patch. The IDA's marketing budget this year was $15,000, and when one considers that that has to cover the design and publication of marketing material and travel and other expenses related to going to industry trade shows, you can see that it doesn't get you very far. The tricky part about marketing funds is that, while they are incredibly necessary (if companies have no idea that your area exists, then they cannot move there), to the average person it seems like a complete waste of money. But let's put the IDA's current request of an additional $135,000 into context.

So here is the current situation:

-The County currently has a few business park sites that are construction ready for any company that wants to move in.

-The IDA is in charge of marketing those properties to companies with a $15,000 budget. If companies do not know about the properties then there is no opportunity for them to move here, thus, the properties are pointless to have in the first place.

By allowing the IDA to have $135,000 more in marketing finances for this year, bringing the total to taxpayer supported marketing project up to $150,000 for the year, they are likely to attend more conferences, produce more professional marketing materials, and make more connections through better communications systems. Thus, the opportunities for them to entice a firm to re-locate here are much higher than they would be otherwise, and if a firm moved in and decided to hire, say 50 people, the tax revenue from that facility far outweighs the original $150,000 investment.

Alternatively, we could refuse the IDA's request to save the taxpayers from spending more money on marketing, something governments should not be in the business of doing, and effectively waste the hundreds of thousands of dollars that we have put into creating our business park sites. The Pumpkin Patch has been incredibly expensive to make shovel ready, and by denying the IDA's request we are effectively allow that money to go to waste for companies will not know it exists.

So, overall the take away lesson form this is that while there is a place and a time to cut expenses and trim the size of government, some government expenditures can be seen as investments. By allotting this marketing money to the IDA we are effectively investing in bringing new jobs to the area. Would a corporation go through the trouble of creating an entirely new product, in this case shovel ready sites, and then not spend any money on marketing it and letting the public know that it exists?