Economic agencies deal with less state funds

Executives, consultants and volunteers at the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada spent a couple of years carefully crafting a vehicle to create good-paying new jobs.

Now they find the vehicle doesn't have enough gas to get far down the road.

The State Legislature's decision to cut funding for EDAWN in half to $1.75 million for the next two years $875,000 annually from the previous allocation of $3.5 million leaves the economic development agency rethinking how it will make its Target2010 plan a reality.

Down the road, the Northern Nevada Development Authority also saw its request for state funding cut in half, but the Carson City-based agency thinks it has enough money to begin implementing its plan for economic development in eight rural counties.

For EDAWN, the reduction in state funding accounts for a 28 percent reduction in its budget.

"It's not an easy process," says Chuck Alvey, the organization's president and chief executive officer. "It's a time for regrouping."

The focus, he says, will stay on the group's goal for the next five years: Generate economic impact of $200 million by assisting the creation of high-quality jobs.

Expenditures that don't move EDAWN toward that goal, he says, are likely to be cut.

At the same time, he says EDAWN will step up the search for community partners that can help deliver its Target2010 program.

A portion of that program, for instance, calls for spreading "Can Do," the region's new economic brand into other markets. The budget cutback makes traditional media buys more difficult.

On the other hand, ITS Logistics of Sparks has offered to wrap a couple of its truck trailers with the "Can Do" message and use the trailers on routes to cities that EDAWN has targeted. Similar efforts from other companies in the region will be sought, Alvey says.

EDAWN executives also hope that recent initiatives such as an increased focus on attracting workers to the region may draw dues-paying companies into EDAWN's roster.

Alvey says EDAWN's executives are convinced the budget cuts didn't result from any disfavor from lawmakers.

"We just got caught in the crossfire of finances at the Legislature," he says.

NNDA, meanwhile, also saw its allocation from the state cut in half, and the agency has $500,000 in state funds available during the next two years.

Executive Director Ron Weisinger says representatives of the eight counties a few weeks ago began hammering out how they will implement the plan known as "NorthernNVision."

The state allocation, he says, puts some momentum into the implementation.

"It will get us 50 percent of the way there," Weisinger says. "It will be tremendous."

In seeking funds from the Legislature, NNDA pledged it wouldn't use the money to add staff. And it said it will ask the state's Commission on Economic Development to review its spending proposals.

Like EDAWN's Target2010, the NNDA's NorthernNVision plan lays out the strategies that communities in the region will use during the next few years to attract good-quality jobs and diversify their economies.

EDAWN's staff of 20 expects to complete its preparation of the new, pared-down budget in the next couple of weeks. The plan then needs the approval of its board.

"We're narrowing down options and seeing how they will play out," Alvey says.