Franchise fee to bolster development | News

The new 20-year agreement would raise the amount of gross revenues the natural gas provider pays to the city from 2% to 3%. Of that, 1% would go to the city’s general fund and 2% would be allocated for economic development, for use acquiring and improving land for industrial and business development.

City Manager Nate Pagan said Thursday that the EDC is conducting a study of potential sites that could be used for development.

The idea, Pagan said, is “just trying to have a dedicated revenue source” to purchase sites in the future.

No sites have been selected. The effort is in its preliminary stages, with the Economic Development Corp. looking at sites.

If sites are selected, both the Owensboro City Commission and Daviess Fiscal Court could be involved, Pagan said.

“It could be we go into a partnership, with the city taking the lead or the county taking the lead,” depending on where the site was located, Pagan said.

Brad Davis, vice president of business development for the Economic Development Corp., said the agency is working to identify and evaluate sites. Part of the plan is also reviewing sites already being marketed by the EDC to determine what would make them more attractive to potential businesses.

“Some of the sites we are already marketing on the website,” Davis said. “We are looking at, ‘Are we putting our resources to good use on those sites?’

“We have also identified sites that could be potentially good sites” for business. “We are looking to see if there are some potential sites that would serve well as industrial sites that we may want to move forward and develop.”

The site study will be done later this year, Davis said.

“Both the city and the county have been involved in this,” he said.

City commissioners will vote on the new franchise agreement later this month.