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Letter to governor seeks state aid for Dayton, Montgomery County

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 9:13 AM Wednesday, June 10, 2009

COLUMBUS — In a bipartisan effort backed by Montgomery County’s two main business advocacy groups, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, and the three Democratic Montgomery County Commissioners have told Gov. Ted Strickland what the Dayton and the county need to bounce back from NCR’s departure to Georgia and other recent economic setbacks.

Key requests in the letter sent to Strickland on Tuesday, June 9 were:

• Up to $31 million in state job creation tax credits, a dollar amount equal to the aid that Strickland offered NCR to stay in Ohio.

• $6 million from the state transportation budget for “critical infrastructure development” at the Austin Road interchange south of Dayton.

• $6 million from the transportation budget to “jump start” Dayton’s role as Ohio’s aerospace hub.

The letter says the region has lost a “staggering” 10,000 jobs in the last several years, including at major employers NCR, General Motors, Delphi and IAMS.

While NCR rejected Ohio’s offer, “We have reason to believe that other Dayton region businesses would leap at the opportunity to use these funds to consolidate their operations in our community,” the letter says.

The letter was signed by: Husted; commissioners Dan Foley, Judy Dodge and Deborah Lieberman; James A. Leftwich, president and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition, and Phillip L. Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

The letter did not carry Mayor Rhine McLin’s signature, but county Administrator Deborah Feldman said copies were sent to her and other city officials. County officials have talked with Dayton officials about the concepts in the letter, Feldman said.

Tueasday evening, McLin said she hadn’t seen the letter, nor was her signature sought for it.

“We’re in position to lose $2.5 million (in income tax revenue) so we have been working directly with the governor’s office on how to proceed,” she said.

“Now we had heard that the coalition, that the chamber and that the county commissioners with Husted were working on a fast track to do something. We felt we wanted to work with the governor and be more deliberate in how we can address the issues within the city of Dayton.”

The proposal includes a strategy for Dayton to benefit from job growth even if it occurs outside the city. This could be achieved through revenue sharing, said Husted, who spearheaded the efforts behind the letter.

The letter had an urgent tone. “Time is of the essence,” it says.

In a response from the governor’s office, Amanda Wurst, his spokeswoman, said, “The governor is looking forward to reviewing the letter, and discussing with Mayor Rhine McLin and other region leaders about how to promote strategic investments that will result in lasting economic growth and job creation. His director of the Department of Development, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, will be visiting Dayton later this week to continue this conversation.”

That meeting is set for Friday.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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