Industrial park funding discussed by council

The question: How to pay for it.

That was a topic of discussion raised by city manager Ed Craig at the city council's study session Tuesday evening. His idea is to buy 300 acres of land that is currently available on Railroad Avenue and turn it into an industrial park as well as a location for a sports park.

But the only way this can be done is to have a funding source, Craig said, suggesting an additional 14 cents on the property tax on a 15-year basis.

"If we want an industrial park or a sports complex, we're going to have to pay for it," Craig said. "The only way we can do this is bond it and pay for it, just like we did with the rec center."

Craig opened the discussion by saying that he assumed that the council would not choose to support the idea of a constructing an industrial spec building that had been proposed last month.

"We can't afford it," councilman Al Stephenson said. Craig explained he would let the attorney for the Industrial Development Board, John T. Bobo, know the decision was official so that the Duck River Electric Membership Corp. (DREMC) could do something else with the money earmarked for the proposed project.

Craig proposed that council members take a trip to Coleman, Ala., to look at that city's industrial park as well as its recreation facilities "to see what's going on."

But Craig said that the community is at a disadvantage because neither the city nor the county owns an industrial park where "we can at least negotiate on the price of the land ... we really need an industrial park."

Craig said there is around 300 acres of land in "the $3 million dollar range" available on Railroad Avenue right where the intersection of the new bypass will be constructed. Craig said he had no idea what the cost would be for developing or providing infrastructure to the location, but said there are grants available for that purpose.

Craig gave a hypothetical figure of $3 million to develop the area. The city manager's idea is to acquire the land, develop it and use it as an industrial park as well as setting aside 80 acres for a sports park. The area would be good for tournaments, he said.

Council member Jo Ann Holland said she has a problem with a property tax, stating that she'd prefer a wheel tax or a user fee, calling it "the only fair tax that there is."

"I have a hard time going for the property tax," she said. "But we're going to have to get the money from somewhere."

Craig said he is not advocating raising taxes but he does support the council taking a professional course to have an industrial park built.

"If we want to build it, we're going to have to pay for it," Craig said.

DREMC had been given a $300,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant to help build a spec building to attract an industry to Airport Business Park. DREMC would have kicked in an additional $60,000 toward the grant, and the total grant money would have been loaned to whatever group or coalition was involved in putting up a spec building.