Albany's WG&L Long Term Financial Planning committee is trying to decide how to spend $9.5 million. The money is part of a municipal trust fund that was paid in by the city years ago in anticipation of de-regulation of the utility industry.
city leaders say they have a plan that would use the money to bring new businesses to the city.
"We want this to be a significant project, something that would have an impact on Albany's economy in a very significant way. Those are the kind of projects that we want to incentivize and that's how we envision these moneys being utilized, on significant projects that make a major impact on our local economy," said EDC President Ted Clem.
The money is part of a municipal trust fund that all cities who have a electric distribution system paid in years ago but now that utility industries will not be de- regulated, the money is being sent back.
Commissioner Tommie Postell said, "That 33.3 that we discussed today will be strictly used for promotion our of city of Albany."
But the funds won't be spent freely, the planning committee has placed two important regulations on who will be eligible for funds.
"Businesses must be producing at least 100 jobs for the citizens and it would also have a minimum of $10 million that it would bring forth to produce these jobs," said Postell.
These guidelines were recommended by the EDC who says their next step is moving forward. "We've got a lot of work to do now, we'll look at some other examples from some other countries, some best practices, to formulate the ideas and come back to this group very soon with sort of the nuts and bolts of how this program would work," said Clem.
And leaders hope it'll be a resource that last for years to come. "This is certainly a great thing today, but I hope it's a great thing 30 years from now as well. That this continues to be a vital program that can make Albany a very attractive place for business," said Clem.
The planning committee adopted the policy today and says now it's in the hands of the city commissioners.
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