Building projects, economic efforts around the county and interest abatement from a federal bonding program were part of the discussion Tuesday morning during the Newton County Economic Development Commission meeting.
In Stella, the community expects to see construction on their FEMA shelter by June. The town picked an exposed aggregate look for the exterior and the prefabricated panels have been ordered. More playground equipment has been donated for the city’s park, but they are waiting for better weather to install it. A Memorial Day celebration has been planned and the Veterans’ Memorial has more than 500 names listed on its bricks.
“It’s paid for itself completely,” said Stella representative Bob Hart.
Diamond planning and zoning is seeing new building projects and a city sewer project is moving along. Casey’s – formerly Barb’s One Stop – is undergoing an interior remodel.
Granby reported they are still trying to set up a restaurant in the former Hillbillies. Spring brings a lot of interest and they came close this year. Granby Telephone’s fiber optic cable project is moving forward and the first phase is nearly completed. The company will continue to lay cable in town and west of town.
Newtonia had several events planned last week that were postponed due to rain. They saw nearly 50 people at their storm shelter, including some travelers through town.
Neosho has a new eatery in the Neosho Family Restaurant. The commission discussed the state of Neosho’s proposed Transportation Development District. The TDD would improve traffic flow around the middle school and near Lowe’s.
Revenues for the county are down 7 percent, 10 percent down including a budgeted decrease, said Jerry Carter, presiding commissioner.
“It’s in the car sales,” Carter said. “If you took the top 10 sales tax producers in the county,” he said, “they’re OK.”
Licensing fees support part of the county’s budget. Incoming revenues are down this year. In 2008, the county saw $900,000 of income from Department of Motor Vehicles taxes; this year it was $500,000. That drop alone, Carter said, has made a difference in their budget. The county, however, is still financially stable and is cushioning the drop in income by using reserves.
They first saw negative numbers on sales tax projections in November 2008. Carter hopes the numbers will return to their previous level so they can begin adding more projects and services.
An estimated $600,000 proposed safe room for downtown Neosho has been put on hold. At one point the county discussed building the tornado shelter, with occupancy of 500, at the historical park.
