EDC’s Strickland: We have great projects in the pipeline

ALBANY — The Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission closed out 2014 with a clean audit report and the promise of good things to come in 2015 during the board’s final scheduled meeting of the year Wednesday morning.

EDC President Justin Strickland told board members during a staff update that some of the “prospects” that have shown interest in the community could be the subject of good economic news in the year to come.

“We’ve got some good things coming up,” Strickland said. “I’m not saying that to tease you or lead you on. We’ve got some great projects in the pipeline.”

Bill McDaniel with the Albany-based Brown & McDaniel CPA firm told the EDC board during an audit report that the commission’s net position for fiscal year 2014 had decreased by 21.9 percent over the previous year, primarily due to the funding of the branding and marketing campaign undertaken by the EDC.

McDaniel said the Economic Development Commission’s total net position as of June 30 was $452,260. The auditor also said that the EDC had come in under budget by $178,290.

“That can be good news or bad news, depending on your position,” McDaniel said. “If you’re too much under budget, the public might want to know why you felt you needed that much money. But you’ve made it clear that you intend to use all the funds (on future development projects), so I don’t think that’s a big concern.”

Strickland sought and received approval to adjust the budget upward by $130,000 to account for spending on the “There’s Only One Albany” marketing campaign. He said that while the total amount for FY 2014 is greater than budgeted, the amount expended during the previous fiscal year was below budget.

“This is an accounting measure; we’re not going to go above that $400,000 threshold that we set for the project,” Strickland said.

The EDC president also took the time to praise the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s Lovick Shippey, who is in charge of EDC finances.

“Lovick’s not given the credit he deserves,” Strickland said. “He’s the one responsible for keeping our finances clean.”