CDBG funds should be used wisely

Readers probably know the adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

That’s kind of the position in which the County Board of Supervisor finds itself with regard to its Community Public Benefit Program, created in 2012 to partially recoup lost tax revenues from agricultural and other properties converted to solar farms. There’s some question whether the county should be handing out fishing poles and whether it has the proper mechanisms in place to ensure it gets them back.

The Imperial County Community Program, launched few years ago, needs urgent modifications in order to work for a more specific goal — job creation.

Just this week Imperial County Supervisors approved an extension until next year to a couple of companies that were originally scheduled to begin repaying our local government the very first payment weeks ago.

This program and the funds included came to fruition after solar developers accepted to assign monies for the benefit of communities that the county decides to disburse according to certain regulations. The solar energy plants are built on former agricultural lands and other properties around the county.

So far, the county has levied $5.6 million in fees and, at the same time, has gone toward non-profit organizations and loans for private investment. We admit many local groups are in dire straits in terms of funds, and most of the times the appropriation translates into wellbeing for our residents. Purchasing tickets for fundraising events that are eventually disbursed in scholarships is a great idea. But the disbursement of such funds should be tied to some kind of community work from those benefited from these resources.

Now, we are truly troubled with the $100,000 in discretionary funds every single supervisor is allowed to spend. Although these funds depend on supervisorial approval as of today, no proposal has been turned down and the agenda items are set in the consent calendar. And of special interest should be the fact that these private-turned-public monies are delivered straight from any given supervisor to organizations located in their respective districts. In this case we must suggest implementing changes in order to avoid conflict.

Regarding the loans approved for at least two private companies and a non-profit that operates similarly to a business, we think this is proper to a certain point. The terms of this project had also lead into questioning if our county government can be a good private investor or business manager.

The $2 million loan approved months ago to Pacificland Development Corporation had to begin being paid the first day of October with a $500,000 payment. A similar amount had to be turned by Nov. 1 and the final $1 million plus interests accrued are due Friday. None of that happened. Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend the payment period several months to both the cheese factory and the international trade company, which we hope is the first and last extension, especially in the case of the Chinese company, since Pacificland decided to put its fuel station as collateral in the loan. Imperial County and very likely any other form of government should refrain from becoming a private business operator, but at the same time we accept some backup was needed in this project that, in past plans, included an artificial lake and now has incorporated a five-star hotel.

Originally the public benefit program — composed by the Agricultural Program and the Community Program — sought to somehow cover the loss of funds from agricultural land that has become soil for energy production. Well, indirectly, these loans to private companies are also at a certain extent serving to create jobs that were lost from those agricultural fields that became home to solar plants. As of today, it is unknown exactly the amount of workers displaced by the closing of lands for agricultural production.

If we consider the county’s unemployment rate in October of 20.9 percent and over 15,000 people unemployed, than we can clearly witness the necessity of such a helping hand to create new jobs.

However in the case of the Chinese developer, we are not necessarily in total agreement with the way things have been handled. Our supervisors have received invitations in the last several years to visit the communist country that, in some occasions, has raised eyebrows of our residents. From massages that cannot be rejected due to protocol, to free accommodations and airplane tickets, our representatives had “suffered” during these outings, considered a quasi-nightmare that nobody wants to take part of.

Of special concern is the reduction of funds available for the community benefit program, given the needs in our communities. A few months ago, only less than half a million dollars were available. Supervisors have expressed their optimism with the increase of monies as more solar plants are in development. That sounds good to us. But, if the estimates differ from the future reality our public officials should be more selective at the time of approving scarce funds from these programs. Also, it would be a great idea that whoever seeks to receive monies from the public benefit program provide timelines, goals and other measurable concepts to make sure funds are spend wisely. Our supervisors ought to create a mechanism to evaluate projects and decide who wins based on a qualification system.