Task force approves initial plan for EDGE reform
The role of the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) in attracting new companies and growing existing businesses in Memphis and Shelby County could soon be changing.
A task force responsible for recommending how EDGE should be reformed on Wednesday approved an initial plan that included workforce training, improving tax incentives and establishing goals designed to increase accountability.
The task force, made up of EDGE board members, business leaders, community advocates and elected officials, will spend the next two weeks revising the plan to create its final recommendations that will be presented to Shelby County commissioners.
First, the task force wants to reconfirm the relationship between the EDGE board and the Greater Memphis Chamber.
According to a document detailing the recommendations, the chamber would be responsible for marketing the city and county to new businesses and the EDGE board would use public resources to promote community growth.
Accountability
To ensure the efforts of both the chamber and EDGE board are effective, the initial recommendations also pointed out the need for annual goals, reporting between the EDGE board and the chamber and review funding and staffing so that both organizations can accomplish their goals.
The relationship between the chamber and the EDGE board dominated conversation for a portion of the meeting Wednesday with Eric Robertson, the president of Community LIFT, an advocacy group promoting community revitalization, emphasizing the need for a formal hierarchy between the two groups.
“Really there would be a reporting of the chamber to EDGE and EDGE would be in the leadership position because this the quasi-governmental agency that is essentially held accountable by public entities,” Robertson said.
He said establishing EDGE as the lead organization and requiring the chamber to report results of marketing and recruitment to the EDGE board would be important if the board is to be able to track what is gained from the chambers efforts. “The chamber reports its activities and achievements to its board on a quarterly basis,” said Calvin Anderson, who also sits on the chamber board. “I don’t think the chamber would be opposed to giving the same kind of update that it gives its board.”
The final plan is expected to specify how that reporting relationship will work.
Changes to PILOT incentive
The task force also recommended that EDGE review and improve its most well-known incentive, the Payment In Lieu of Tax (PILOT) incentive by examining fees that companies pay to receive the tax break to determine if the fees are competitive or if they need to be lowered.
If the fees are deemed too high, they could be lowered and taxpayer dollars may be used to cover EDGE’s losses.
The task force also suggested exploring the idea of using project code names rather than a company’s real name to protect a company’s identity when it is being considered for a tax incentive to bring operations to Shelby County.
The task force agreed that the greatest opportunity could come from workforce development and suggested partnering with the school systems and existing career and technical training programs to create more skilled workers.
Finally, the task force also emphasized the need for economic efforts that focused on keeping existing businesses here and developing and growing small businesses.
The final recommendations are also expected to emphasize the role of the city and county governments to invest in infrastructure to make Memphis and Shelby County more attractive to new businesses.
The group is expected to meet again in two weeks to approve the final plans that will be presented to the county government and the EDGE board.