A contract between the Economic Development Corp. of Jefferson County and the Economic Development Alliance provides for a 1.6 percent cost of living increase for the next 12 months, a figure most members of the corporation think is fair.
Meeting Tuesday afternoon, George Makris, chairman of the corporation board, also known as the tax board, said the contract with the Alliance is due to be automatically renewed Oct. 1, and Aug. 1 is the last date that either side could get out of the agreement or propose changes to it.
The corporation administers the three-eights cent sales tax that was approved by county voters for economic development, and has a contract with the Alliance to manage the affairs of the corporation, and recruit jobs. The Alliance is being paid $490,000 annually, according to tax board records.
“I have no problem with the 1.6 (percent),” James “Jitters” Morgan, former mayor of White Hall and a member of the corporation board, said after being told that the cost of living increase, based on the Consumer Price Index, is built into the contract.
The issue was initially raised by Jimmy Don McKissack, who asked Makris to approach the Alliance about waiving the increase.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We’re here to put people to work,” McKissack said. “Not just the Alliance.”
Makris said he would talk to the Alliance about the increase, saying that he believed they had “done an excellent job in nine and a-half months. I’m pleased with what they’ve been able to accomplish.”
Other board members, including Scott McGeorge and Eugene Hunt agreed with Makris, noting that 157 jobs have been created at Horizon Foods, which received incentive money from the corporation to purchase refrigeration equipment, and several other jobs at Vivione Biosciences which located at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in May, which also received incentives from the board.
Horizon began full production June 28, and is projecting to add a second shift that will bring total employment to 329 later.
“We don’t want to pour water on people that got us 157 jobs,” McGeorge said.
Lou Ann Nisbett, president and chief executive officer of the Alliance, said the incentives the agency is now able to make to attract new business and industry is starting to pay off.
“People know we have the incentives and we’ve had more activity than we’ve had in the past,” she said, adding that a prospect who was being recruited a year ago unsuccessfully is taking another look at the community.
“And I’m meeting with another prospect next week,” Nisbett said.
Sales tax receipts from June totaled $297,252, bringing the total collected since the tax began in July 2011 to $2,917,093. Makris said the collections so far remain on track for $3.5 million the first year. The tax is collected by the state each month and remitted to the corporation two months later, so the taxes collected in May will be received this month, and June tax receipts will be remitted to the corporation in August.
The board also voted unanimously to retain the same officers for another year, with Markis remaining president.
“I can’t believe we’ve been doing this a year,” he said.
Other officers remaining in their positions are the Rev. Glenn Barnes Sr., vice president, Hunt, secretary and McGeorge treasurer.
McKissack, Morgan and Kaleybra Morehead make up the rest of the corporation board.