Council reviews industrial recruitment efforts at monthly work session

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, July 8, 2015, 12:30 a.m. — The members of the Bardstown City Council received an update on local economic development activities at its working session Tuesday evening.

Frank B. Wilson, chairman of the Bardstown Industrial Development Corp., and Kim Huston discuss industrial recruitment at the Bardstown City Council’s working session Tuesday.

Kim Huston, president of the Nelson County Economic Development Agency (NCEDA), told the council that the changing face of industrial recruitment means the goal “isn’t just smokestack chasing anymore.”

Bardstown continues to attract the attention of business and industry, even as industrial recruiting becomes more competitive. “I have more open projects in my files now than I have in the past 15 years,” Huston told the council. “I think its going to be a great year for us.”

Frank B. Wilson, chairman of the Bardstown Industrial Development Corp. (BIDC) and a former member of the Bardstown city council, gave the group a brief history of industrial recruitment in Bardstown, and how the agencies doing it now came into existence.

The BIDC dates back to 1967 and the recruitment of Bird Vinyl Products facility that located on Withrow Court. That wasn’t the city’s first organized industrial recruitment, Wilson told the council. Bardstown hired its first industrial recruiter in 1948, and it points to the city leadership’s acknowledgement that local government had a role to play in bringing business to the county.

“Local governments have to help in industrial recruitment,” Wilson said. “In small communities, the infrastructure and land acquisition costs make it hard to do without some type of government involvement. That’s why in 1948 the City of Bardstown got. They were way ahead of the game.”

Tyler Glick, representing LIFT, a group that supports the local-option sales tax, spoke to the council Tuesday about the group’s efforts and asked the council to consider a resolution endorsing its efforts.

Every industrial job creates three private sector jobs, which is why local governments get involved in recruiting industry. “You have to have that industrial base to get the city to grow,” he said.

Recruiting efforts have changed over the years, and the BIDC in recent years expanded its board in order to broaden its perspective and pool of ideas. In addition to the mayor and judge executive, the BIDC board now includes a magistrate, a member of the Bardstown city council, and a representative from local industry.

Earlier this year, the council repealed a tax abatement ordinance that was used as an incentive for recruiting industry. Huston said she would like to see some sort of new tax incentive package or plan developed to that will give recruitment efforts an additional tool with which to use in attracting business and industry.

LIFT ASSIST. Tyler Glick, representing a group called Local Investments for Transformation, a grassroots group that supports legislation to create a local option sales tax, explained the group’s mission and just what the legislation could mean to the state.

The local option sales tax legislation — House Bill 1 — failed to pass the Kentucky Senate in the General Assembly session earlier this year. The legislation would not be a new tax imposed by the state, nor would be a tax levied by local government.

The keyword is “local,” Glick explained. If the General Assembly approves the legislation, and it is later approved by voters, it will allow local governments to ask voters to consider approving a 1 percent sales tax hike that will go to pay for a specific fixed infrastructure project.

Thirty-eight other states have local option sales tax legislation, he said. In Nelson County, the tax could generate as much as $5.4 million in revenue per year.

The money could go to build an aquatic center, convention center or other needed project, Glick said. Before the tax can be levied, residents will be asked to go to the polls to vote to approve the additional one percent sales tax.

Glick asked the council to consider passing a resolution to support the local-option sales tax legislation when it comes before the 2016 Kentucky General Assembly.

CITY LIQUOR LICENSE UPDATES. In other business, City Clerk Barbie Bryant updated the council on the city’s liquor license renewals, which were due by July 1.

The Half Lit Lounge and Geri’s Place have both closed, and the new Dollar General Store is still waiting for their state malt beverage license, which they must have prior to the granting a city liquor license, she said.

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council will next meet at 7 p.m. July 14.

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