Letter to the Editor: County needs to address true economic development, not waste money on road to nowhere
Last week we saw the County Council debating spending another $375,000 to pave .55 miles of a county road. There was a lot of good discussion, but the one thing I want to point out is how the county initially approved $500,000 of EDIT funds two years ago to buy land to have the emergency road.
After all that, the county sought to spend another $405,000 of potential EDIT funds. That would mean it will cost taxpayers $100,000 shy of 1 million dollars for a half mile road!
Thankfully, this project has been put on hold as of today’s news.
On May 6th Michael J. Hicks, Director of the Center for Business and Economic Development wrote an opinion piece about the real cause of Indiana’s brain drain. Brain drain is an economic term detailing the loss of educated young adults away from one area to a different area they grew up in. In Dubois County it is well documented we are suffering a significant brain drain.
The two local HTC initiatives have shown the children of Dubois County are voting with their feet and choosing to seek employment elsewhere. HTC has shown employment fields, and lack of certain types of modern entertainment and purchasing options are the top things that the next generation has said drives to leave the area.
Last year I pointed out that 90-95% of the Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) spending of the County goes toward general projects to fix roads, fund the 4-H fairgrounds, and other projects County Option Income Tax funds should cover.
This still stands true today. As Council President Greg Kendall pointed out and was reported last December, the County Commissioners and Dubois Strong drive the projects for EDIT spending. Today we still only see road and sewer projects funded by EDIT while the County still has over $36 million of our tax money in accounts.
Where are the county level projects to stop the Brain Drain?
They don’t exist as far as I can see. The only thing I see is the council debating wasting a lot of money on an emergency road that seems to be pointless and vastly overpriced.
Is this what we want our county elected officials spending their time on… a million dollar, half-mile emergency road?
I know I don’t.
I ask you to contact your elected County Council and Commissioner Representatives on the lack of Dubois County Economic Development spending. This is a county-wide issue we all need to be involved with.
Adrian Engelberth Jasper, IN
Mr. Editor , I would like to comment to Mr. Engelberth’s comment on the county road. First, all of us out here on this county road have lived here at least 8 years or more dealing with this gravel road and maintaining it with no outside help from the county or the broker who owned the easement, who at the time of purchasing this land told everyone here we would be getting a paved road within two years. This person was paid for part of the road yet we were asked to donate our property to widen this road , we asked how much property and received the outrage of county members and people like Mr. Engleberth. We receive no notices on these meetings and have to read about it in the paper. I myself went to the first and only meeting I was ever informed of , had one e-mail concerning county meeting and nothing since. I have to read in the paper again that we were turned down til next year possibly. I do not think we are being unreasonable about request information that pertains to our properties or the fact we are requesting a road that had been promised over 8 years ago. Nor did we ask it to be a 60 foot paved county road just a paved road that was suppose to have been here years ago like the developers other properties across from us.You do not live out here Mr. Engelberth, and yes we knew what we were getting when we purchased the properties but we did not expect to be lied to or cheated out of our property.Where was the county or 4h when the tornado came through our road or when their trees fell into the road,or the overhang of trees blind your vision, they were not here cleaning up, we were. I thank you for your time.
Carol Martin
Huntingburg,In.