The Jamestown City Council and the Jamestown Area Development Corporation are having a good time.
There are many business owners looking to take advantage of federal stimulus funding to expand, add equipment or reinvest in their buildings. City officials are deciding how much to raise from the $500,000 originally approved for the ARPA Building Property Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program.
Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, expressed concern that some applicants received various federal grants during the pandemic. That threat — a good one, by the way — prompted Crystal Serdike and city development officials to consider whether a business could get another city grant and prioritize those that haven’t received funding before. City officials also host discussions and visit individual businesses.
But in order to ensure that the city’s funding goes to projects that are coming to fruition, it is also worth suggesting that city officials take up the matter. “The Last Dollar” A funding approach similar to the position New York State has taken over the years. Under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state money was approved only when all financing was in place — meaning the state money was the funding to put a project over the finish line so it could begin work.
City officials often work the same way, but it’s a good rule of thumb to consider incentives.
After all, we know that there will be projects that should and will not be funded by the federal stimulus program. An area like Jamestown that struggles to attract investment should be proactive in helping businesses — whether that’s by pushing existing programs or opening up new funding avenues for new programs — so they can get as many of these projects as possible.
Interest in the city’s small-scale infrastructure improvement fund shows that business owners are willing to reinvest in their businesses. That’s a good problem — but it’s also one that won’t be solved entirely by federal dollars.
