Hamilton plans for economic development

Economic expansion keeps cropping up as a hot topic in the upcoming May Democratic mayoral primary election.
 
Both candidates, Mayor Mark Kruzan and John Hamilton, addressed issues related to job growth in their candidacy announcements.

Hamilton announced Thursday his proposals for sustainable job development in Bloomington.

“Most of Bloomington’s job growth comes from local businesses that are expanding their workforce,” Hamilton said. “As mayor, I will make it one of my top priorities to get something done, starting with making available much needed funds.”

The plan he enumerated would create two new funds, the Sustainable Jobs Fund and the Greening Downtown Fund, to provide expanding businesses with the capital they need.

The money for these funds would come out of two existing pools of money the city possesses, which Hamilton said are being under-used.

Money for the Sustainable Jobs Fund would come from the Bloomington Investment Incentive Fund. The Greening Downtown Fund would be started with money from the Downtown Community Revitalization Enhancement District.

Hamilton said the city is not using some of its money well, the Bloomington Investment Incentive Fund in particular.

“This is a fund that was created some years ago from west side businesses, and it is designed to support business growth in the city,” he said. “In my view it’s time to put it to work, and I think that’s what we can do with the Sustainable Jobs Fund.”

Kruzan, however, said the city has already achieved the status as the model community Hamilton is seeking.

“In the past year and a half we’ve had people from Broad Ripple, Kokomo and even Fox Business News ask about our secret to success,” Kruzan said.

He also said the guidelines for accessing Bloomington Investment Incentive Fund money have already been rewritten in the form of the new tax abatement policies. The new policies, passed in January, are intended to make the money more accessible for businesses who will use it to improve the community.

Kruzan said his other concern is that if fund money is given out too freely, it will disappear.

“One thing to remember is that the fund is not an ongoing revenue source,” he said. “Once it’s depleted, it’s gone.”

Kruzan said the money in the city’s various funds shouldn’t necessarily be spent for the sake of spending it. He said using it sparingly can benefit the city in the event of an emergency.

Both the Sustainable Jobs Fund and the Greening Downtown Fund would be used to provide loans to businesses to expand their operations within the city limits.

They will offer five-to-seven-year loans to businesses, according to a press release.

The loan money would only be available to businesses planning to make environmentally sustainable improvements that could also bring new jobs into the community.

Greening Downtown Fund money is only available for businesses within the city’s Downtown Community Revitalization Enhancement District.

Hamilton’s proposals have already garnered the support of some Bloomington businesses.

Don Seader, president of World Wide Automotive Services, said his business ran into problems during its expansion into city limits.

“Some of the roadblocks that we ran into had to do with financing,” he said. “We ended up having to do a lot of creative financing to get our project done. And I think that had these funds been available ... it would have allowed us to do even more than we were able to do.”

In addition to creating these new funds, Hamilton said he thinks the city needs to market the availability of this money better.

“I think the point of this money is to put it to use,” he said.