« Law - A take on "The government may withhold Social Security benefits in order to collect old student loan debts" | Main | Environment - Biodiesel plant, ducks unlimited »
Friday, December 09, 2005
Environment - More on: Ethanol plant earns Wells limited backing
Updating this ILB entry from Wednesday titled "Ethanol plant earns Wells limited backing," the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial today headlined "Good stewardship in Wells." Some quotes:
Wells County Council members struck the appropriate balance between being good stewards of county taxpayers’ money and taking a reasonable economic development risk in their vote Tuesday on a proposed ethanol plant.The council’s decision to pledge about $500,000 a year in county economic development income tax money to back a $31.6 million bond wasn’t what the plant’s developers wanted. But it was the most county government could reasonably and responsibly devote to a private enterprise. * * *
Council members were right to steer away from using property tax revenues to back a larger amount of $50 million. Property taxes provide the bulk of county government’s general fund income, and a default could seriously hurt the county’s finances for many years.
Council members rightly expressed deep reservations about pledging future property tax revenues for a private project. As councilwoman Karolyna Farling explained: “I just don’t feel that people in my districts have ever … given me permission to spend their tax dollars on private enterprise.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 9, 2005 12:07 PM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana economic development