Rural Fast Track program needs more publicity but may run out of money

A state program designed to create jobs in rural Utah is proving to be popular, but some people are questioning whether enough rural businesses are aware of it. However, state officials running the Rural Fast Track Program, which offers up to $50,000 for job-creating projects, are cautioning that, while getting the word out is important, the program could run out of funding if too many companies apply.

A state program designed to create jobs in rural Utah is proving to be popular, but some people are questioning whether enough rural businesses are aware of it.

However, state officials running the Rural Fast Track Program, which offers up to $50,000 for job-creating projects, are cautioning that, while getting the word out is important, the program could run out of funding if too many companies apply.

Members of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board and GOED officials discussed the matter at the board’s October meeting.

GOED’s executive director, Val Hale, said the program gets a percentage of Industrial Assistance Fund (IAF) money, and the IAF hasn’t been replenished by the Legislature in four years.

“If we launch this big [marketing] campaign to make businesses aware of this and they all apply, we aren’t going to have the money,” Hale said.

Discussion about the program was prompted by board member Brent Brown, who said he wondered how well the program is known in rural parts of the state.

“I ask myself, how many businesses down there know that this is available?” Brown said. “It just really troubles me. Somebody gets lucky and it’s kind of like they hit the lottery and they go, ‘Wow, man, you won’t believe what I found out about!”

While GOED works with a lot of agencies and local economic development officials to try to increase awareness, it also posts information about the program in a newsletter and through social media and tries to get information about grant awards in local newspapers.

Board members suggested that getting program information to local chambers of commerce and local banks would be good. Board member Josh Romney suggested a mailer to every rural business in the state. “You’re going to spend a lot less than you spend on one of these incentives, to mail them all,” Romney said. “I think it’s an effective way to reach them all.”

Board chairman Mel Lavitt suggested that board members and GOED officials brainstorm on ideas. “I think we would all agree that you’re not reaching everyone you could reach and we need to make sure that everybody in these communities knows that this money is available,” he told GOED staffers involved in the program’s administration. “The job you’re doing is light-years ahead of whatever has been done before. Now we’re just trying to figure out how to make it better. …”

Brown contended that greater awareness of the program would provide increased competition for the funds, ensuring that better projects get the money. He questioned where recipients would do their projects anyway “and now all of the sudden figured out that somebody will help me pay for it. … I think what we’re supposed to try to have happen is to inspire people and incentivize people to do something that they weren’t going to do anyway. … The taxpayers — ultimately they’re the ones who are funding this — they want their money to go to causing something to happen that otherwise wasn’t going to happen.”

Linda Gillmor, GOED’s associate managing director for urban and rural business services and director of the Office of Rural Development, recited some of the program criteria and said the number of applications did rise in areas where newspaper announcements were published. “I’m actually with you; I’d like to see more competition,” Gillmor said, adding that she believes grant applicants have been well-vetted.

Jeff Edwards, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, said he believes each recipient needed the grant for their projects to become reality. Growing a business in rural Utah is a huge commitment for those business owners, he said.

“This [program] is not somebody ‘dialing for dollars’ and trying to get free money to expand their business,” Edwards said. “These are well-thought-out, very challenging things for these many times family-owned businesses to make these decisions.”

The program had 31 grants awarded during the 2015-16 fiscal year, and the first quarter of the current fiscal year had 14 awards totaling $670,891. The projects have a total private-sector capital expenditure of nearly $5.3 million tied to the creation of 29 jobs. Four projects were approved for businesses in Cache County, two were in Juab and one each were in Carbon, Emery, Garfield, Box Elder, Grand, Rich, Sanpete and Wayne counties. The projects are in 10 industries, including four in manufacturing.

The GOED board endorsed four Rural Fast Track grants, each for $50,000, during its October meeting:

• Moab Brewers LLC, located in Moab, to help pay for a $340,000 project to renovate and modify a recently acquired building that will be used to expand the company’s operations, help cover the costs of new gelato kitchen equipment that will double current capacity, and retrofit the building with equipment and modifications needed to meet federal and state regulations.

• A.W. Carter LLC, in Mount Pleasant in Sanpete County, to help pay for a $149,925 project to build a 5,000-square-foot addition to its existing facility, allowing the company to double capacity and provide a wider array of products and services and create five new jobs.

• Mountain Valley Machine Inc., in Smithfield in Cache County, to help pay for a $122,400 project involving the purchase of a machine that will allow the injection molding company to keep up with increasing current demand and expand into new products that have been requested.

• Specialized Mountain Services LLC, of Brian Head in Iron County, to help pay for a $100,627 project to buy a used excavator, grapple attachment and winter tracks that will be used year-round for various services, and to buy a portable saw mill for onsite custom milling. The project is expected to result in one new full-time job.