GADC prepares new budget

MAY 20, 2010 9:26 a.m. (0)

Since its inception the Greenville Area Development Corp. has posted a positive return on investment for the county every year.

In 2001 there was a $529,710 return on the taxpayer’s $500,000 investment. In 2008, the last year for which data is available, taxpayers got a $7 to $1 return on investment with $7.316 million in fee in lieu of taxes funds generated on a $690,261 taxpayer ante.

The GADC’s board is putting together their budget for the coming fiscal year. The actual allocation of county money is already set since the county operates on a two-year budget cycle, said Jerry Howard, president and CEO.

GADC is a hybrid public-private corporation that depends on a mix of funding sources, Howard said. For the nine months ending March 31, 2010 the county paid in $710,970; there was $87,452.97 in FILOT income; $423.40 in other income; and $11,460.29 in interest income.

That put the year-to-date actual income level for the organization at $810,306.66, according to GADC’s income statement. The organization has a $1.02 million total budget for the coming fiscal year.

Funding sources in the proposed budget include $732,299 from the county; $90,000 in projected FILOT income; $145,000 in projected private sector funding; $5,000 in interest and a $46,966 balance from the previous year.

Like most organizations of its type, Howard said, the bulk of the budget in any year goes to salaries. The seven full-time employees (including Howard) draw $711,000 in the proposed budget.

The next largest expense, budget figures show, is for marketing $160,750 scattered over 13 projects and for capital expenditures $57,000. The bulk of that capital expenses money, $40,000, goes for an update to the GADC website.

“We’ve found that a lot of our prospects do their initial survey on the Internet,” Howard said. “We strive to put as much up to date information as possible on our website.”

Howard said Greenville has had issues with things like air connectivity and availability of large industrial sites that have access to the requisite infrastructure (roads, water, sewer and electricity).

“The Southwest Air announcement will go a long way toward helping with the transportation worries,” Howard said. “We’ve had prospects walk out after telling us that our air service here just was not what they were looking for.”

Another issue for GADC officials, Howard said, was workforce development and business retention efforts.

The agency has plans to give Greenville Works, a partnership between a dozen education, workforce development and economic development entities, $10,000 in the coming year.

Contact Charles Sowell at 679-1208 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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