Local Share hearings moved to December
Local Share Account applicants will be in a receiving mode – and mood – this holiday season.
For the first time, the Washington County LSA hearings will be held in December instead of January. They will unfold Dec. 7 and 8 in the public meeting room at Courthouse Square, downtown Washington – the same venue as the previous eight years.
Hearings will be scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 7 and 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Dec. 8.
Efficiency is the operative word related to the change, Jeff Kotula, chairman of the LSA review committee, said in an email.
“We could make the process easier by reducing the time between submitting the applications in October and the public hearings,” said Kotula, who also is president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency.
“With the hearings in December, we can offer recommendations to the county commissioners earlier and successful applicants will have additional time to prepare their projects.”
A total of 81 applicants will present their cases for funding from the 2016 program – which they will do in 2015. The money comes from gambling revenue at The Meadows Casino from April 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016, and will go toward economic and community development projects countywide. The Washington County Redevelopment Authority administers the program.
Each organization requests a certain dollar amount, and must have secured funding from other sources that equals or exceeds the requested figure. At least one representative from each of the 81 bodies has three minutes to present a briefing before the review committee, which this year will include state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township.
The committee determines the recipients and the amounts each will get and forwards the recommendations to the county commissioners for approval or rejection.
The list then will be sent to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, with the funds being distributed during the summer.
As usual, demand outstrips supply. Applicants are seeking a total of $24.7 million, but about $6.5 million is generally available.
“At the end of the process,” Kotula said, “we want to ensure we are recommending projects that create new jobs, develop new water/sewage infrastructure and continue to promote economic development in Washington County.”
LSA requests are sorted into four categories: Economic Development, Community Improvement, Public Interest (sanitary, water, general) and Job Training.
Three requests are for $1 million-plus, led by West Pike Run Township’s bid for $2,348.591 for the Woodland Road Waterline and Booster Station Project. Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Authority is requesting $2 million for the Alta Vista Spec Building in Fallowfield Township, and the Peters Township Sanitary Authority is seeking $1 million for the Donaldson’s Crossroads Interceptor Replacement Project in Peters.