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County To Dramatically Change Century Economic Development Funding
July 28, 2017
The Escambia County Commission is making a dramatic change in how economic development dollars are allocated to Century, a change that will have an obvious impact on the local chamber of commerce.
During the current fiscal year that ends September 30, the county provided a $55,000 allocation to the chamber, up from $40,000 in previous years. That amounted to 97 percent of the chamber’s total funding and provided a $40,00o per year salary for an economic development coordinator.
With final budget approval, Escambia County will still allocate $55,000 in funding for economic development in the Century area, not just within town limits. Ideas and funding requests will be submitted by the Century Chamber of Commerce, the Century Town Council and any other group to District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry. The requests will be heard by the entire commission for approval.
Funding requests can include no more than a 10 percent administrative overhead and funding cannot be used for salaries or daily operations — meaning the chamber won’t be able to use the money to continue funding the economic development coordinator position.
“It’s not going to go for monthly salaries for the chamber,” Barry said. He plans to attend an upcoming Century Town Council meeting and explain the opportunities.
“Our taxpayer dollars should not be funding the operations of chambers of commerce,” Commissioner Doug Underhill said.
“I like the checks and balances you are bringing to the equation instead of just putting the whole block grant out there for them to just whichever way they want – having them bring it back each time they want to expend the funds is really a smart thing to do,” Commissioner Jeff Bergosh said.
Comments
7 Responses to “County To Dramatically Change Century Economic Development Funding”
Century and the North end of the county need to forget somehow transforming itself into a tourist destination. That thought is asinine. What the area needs to do is focus on promoting it’s assets which would include; The old sawmill, the old sewing factory, and readily available rail and road corridors. Also they should promote the fact that the Pensacola State College could fulfill any training requirements for any business that is willing to locate here. Century needs to demand that code enforcement condemn and get cleaned up all the blighted structures that are within their jurisdiction, and along with that, get all the junk filled yards cleaned up especially those along US29. You always hear the old adage; “when you seek success, you need to dress for success”.Century needs to dress for success instead of looking like the blighted area that it has become
Steve Barry is a genius.
It’s a great idea to encourage the town to plan projects that are deserving of the money instead of a blind allocation with no plans for where the money will be used other than salaries for people who are not bringing any viable results.
This is a great time for Century to get on the ball to learn about the Triumph funds that the Town Council can apply for. This is NOT the RESTORE $. It is another stream of $$
You have to have project and measurable results. Myescambia.com has a lot of info. Even though Century is an incorporated area it is a part of District 5.
Learn your potential and use it.
Many others are chasing this windfall as the opportunity it is.
The Commission also said in the meeting if you are not working this Triumph money, game changing money coming into the region than you are missing a major opportunity.
Open and functional business are a magnet for tourists. Century seems to have a problem retaining commerce that is actually on the books.
Kevin I really like the way you are thinking! We need something to make people want to stop here and take a look around. Century could be a great little town with some touch ups here and there.
This is WONDERFUL news for our town and for the county. It is great to see that so many others share the same passion as I in regard to capitalizing on the unique position of Century. As northwest Florida’s gateway to the north, I envision making Century more appealing by updating the welcome signs and possibly working with the US Navy on obtaining a static display or some other display associated with marine wildlife to create a landmark for travelers to stop for a photo. There is a massive amount of traffic that flows through our town and we have a grand opportunity to cash in on the tourism industry. We just have to look into creating a more tourism friendly image.