The Bancroft Village Board has County-wide Economic Development on the agenda at tonight's village board meeting. The decision to join in a County-wide effort will set the future course for economic development in Bancroft.
A YES vote to join means Bancroft is committed to working with the rest of the County to increase the number of jobs in Cuming County.
A NO vote is a vote for the status quo.
The rumor mill is that Bancroft Village board members are concerned that Bancroft will pay the same as West Point and Wisner. Each community is asked to pay $5000 and the County Board will pay the remaining $50,000. Bancroft Board members prefer a per capita fee. Unfortunately, that is not the proposal that the Cuming County Economic Development committee put forth. For your information, Kent Neumann and I were the only people from Bancroft to attend committee meetings, even though several community members were personally invited and everyone was welcome to attend. Kent Neumann proposed a per capita fee. That proposal was discussed and eventually ruled out because West Point and Wisner would pay they bulk of the cost, and they already have a large amount budgeted for Economic Development in their own communities. To my knowledge, Bancroft does not have any money for budgeted for Economic Development, making $5000 a reasonable amount.
Pender has a sales tax to support development in Pender. Lyons is involved in a County-wide effort in Burt County.
The Cuming County proposal is the best plan we have and Bancroft needs to get on board. If the Bancroft Village Board votes not to join the rest of Cuming County, the board needs to share their plan for economic development in Bancroft.
