9/9/2009
By DAVID CLOUSTON Salina Journal

Stimulus money would cut costs to borrow for projects

Saline County commissioners Tuesday approved a resolution designating the county as a recovery zone, making government entities eligible to receive federal stimulus money to lower the cost of borrowing for projects.

The projects may include the construction of new facilities or the expansion of existing facilities.

The county's allocation of stimulus funds included $11.34 million for economic development bonds and $17.01 million for facility bonds.

The commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the measure after hearing from Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.

The authority granted under the resolution enables the Salina Airport Authority, the city of Salina and Saline County to borrow money for projects designed to expand employment or recover jobs lost due to the recession.

In the case of the airport authority, money could be borrowed for financing infrastructure improvements such as improving utilities and building new hangars to suit potential employers. The airport authority is about 95 percent finished with the design phase of utility work for a 100-acre redevelopment adjacent to the west side of the Kansas State University at Salina campus, Rogers said after the meeting.

There is no firm plan, yet, for which government entities would use the stimulus fund authority granted under the resolution or how much of the county's allocation would be used, Rogers said.

Rogers did tell commissioners that, to date, there's been a local net loss of 230 jobs in the aviation and aerospace related fields in Saline County.

The airport authority does have several prospects looking at Saline County that could replace up to 200 of those lost jobs, he said.

Corrections goals

Commissioners also heard a report Tuesday from Annie Grevas, director of Community Corrections for the 28th Judicial District, which includes Saline and Ottawa counties.

Grevas reported on year-end outcomes for the agency, which are to be reported to the state Department of Corrections. The agency had a 50 percent reduction in the number of offenders who fail probation and are sent back to prison, exceeding its goal, which was 20 percent, Grevas said.

"We were one of five agencies who did that for the state of Kansas," she said.

She also said the Legislature is looking for ways to reduce prison beds and shave costs. One of the ways to do that will be to funnel more offenders to community corrections.

"I don't think the dollars will be there. I do anticipate about level funding and a huge increase in clients," Grevas said.