The Marshall-Saline Development Corporation has hit a lull in new projects, but there is good news on other economic development fronts, according to MSDC Director Roy Hunter.

In his report to the MSDC board of directors Tuesday, Oct. 9, Hunter noted that not much progress had been made in recent weeks on several business relocation projects and no new projects have emerged lately.

"I'm not overly concerned about it. It happens," Hunter said. "It's happened three or four times since I've been here and it never lasts more than about six months."

In the meantime, Hunter continues to keep in contact with companies considering relocation to the area and will travel to Texas later this month to consult with a business owner who previously considered moving to the area and may still be interested.

One project that seems to have more positive prospects is the development of Marshall Junction, according to Hunter.

He said MSDC is seeking a consultant to help develop a proposal to create a transportation development district at the junction.

If approved, the district would enable local economic development officials to apply for state Department of Economic Development assistance in redesigning and enhancing the Interstate 70/U.S. 65 junction, a project that is seen as a precursor to business development in the area, according to Hunter.

The district could then use some combination of special assessments, sales taxes or property taxes to help pay off the balance of the costs for redeveloping the junction, he said.

Hunter said the case for DED assistance should be easy to make, but it is important to have the help of someone who has experience developing proposals for this kind of development.

There was good news from state government, too, according to Hunter.

The economic development bill passed by the legislature during a special session in August included provisions that will help local efforts, he said.

Hunter said the bill, which included reauthorization and additional funding for the Quality Jobs Program and the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Program, was generally a good thing for MSDC, if not everything he had hoped for.

"It was critical. If we didn't get this [bill passed] we were out of business. We had nothing to offer," he said. "This will give us two or three years to prove the this is a revenue-generating program. If you create jobs, you create revenue."

According to economic development lobbyist Ray McCarty's Web site, the annual tax credit limit for participating businesses in the Quality Job Program was increased to $40 million and the Enhanced Enterprise Zone tax credit cap was increased to $14 million.

In other business, Hunter gave the board an update on the creation of an enterprise zone for the city of Slater.

He said Slater officials are in the process of putting together information necessary for the application, which is expected to be completed early in 2008.

Drawing boundaries for the zone will be easy, he said, because the whole city qualifies for the designation.

Enhanced Enterprise Zones must provide a 100 percent tax abatement for 10 years to qualified businesses, but after that local officials can determine how fast those benefits are phased out.

Hunter said he believes companies participating in enterprise zones should begin paying taxes as soon as is practical in order to be fair to a community's existing businesses.

Contact Eric Crump at

marshalleditor@socket.net