Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer gave the commissioners an update on his discussions surrounding the changes in the CAGIT tax with the local legislators.
Origer had approached the commissioners at their earlier November meeting for support in overturning legislation to free up money for the CEDIT fund for economic development. He believes that the special CAGIT tax should be used to help pay the jail lease instead of the CEDIT fund. Origer argued that the CEDIT fund should be used for economic development projects and not just the jail lease. To do this, Origer needs to approach local legislators to change legislation allowing language to change the law to reflect his request.
He told the commissioners that he has spoken to Rep. Doug Gutwein and State Sen. Ed Charbonneau.
“Rep. Gutwein is maybe a little more concerned and cautious than Sen. Charbonneau is about how this would go over,” said Origer. “Sen. Charbonneau thought the governor would actually like this solution better than the current, limited language because it means that we are actively making use of more of the money we’re collecting. Doug thought it might still be a little bit of a sore subject with the governor so he wasn’t sure.”
He said if they are both hesitant, he may hold off on pursuing this request for now. He is attempting to get a hold of representatives closer to the governor to seek a direction in which to proceed.
