By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Salisbury City Council agreed Tuesday to allocate an extra $10,000 toward downtown incentive grants.
Councilman Mark Lewis said that even though the city incentives are small, they can sometimes make or break a renovation project.
The incentives have always leveraged a higher amount of private investment, Lewis added.
For the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the city allocated $22,000 to the Municipal Service District incentive program and $25,000 for Innes Street incentive grants. The Community Appearance Commission receives applications for the grants and decides on awards.
Because of several significant renovation projects in the downtown this year, including improvements in the 100 block of East Fisher Street, the monies in both programs are nearly depleted with half of the fiscal year to go.
The incentive grants go mostly toward facade renovations. The Innes Street grants are not necessarily confined to buildings on Innes Street. They can go to any project within the Municipal Service District, which is supported by an extra property tax.
The Community Appearance Committee already has allocated $17,841 from the Municipal Service District program and $25,783 in Innes Street grants, leaving a balance of only $3,376 in the combined programs.
Community Appearance Commission members Bill Safrit and Barbara Perry told council the commission had received completed applications for three other projects and would like to award grants to keep them on track.
Senior Planner Lynn Raker said the projects include renovations by Summit Developers on the former Social Security Administration building at North Lee and East Council streets, the front facade of the Davis Law office building and new awnings and repainting at Sweet Meadow Cafe.
The three incentive awards to those projects would total $13,250, and the Community Appearance Commission asked council to consider supplemental funding for the year of $10,000.
Some 14 other projects have received incentive grants since July.
The Municipal Service Grant program is 26 years old. In those 26 years, $352,000 in public funds have led to $4.7 million in private investment.
In the 11 years of the Innes Street grants, $209,400 has been leveraged with $3.89 million in private investment.
Any business would like that kind of return on investment, Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson said.
Councilman Bill Burgin said the incentive grants help to generate momentum in the downtown while also protecting sometimes fragile buildings. “We all win,” he said.
Council asked City Manager David Treme to determine where the $10,000 in supplemental funding would come from in the city’s budget.