NEEDS Appointed Interim-Director of Economic Development, City of Woonsocket RI 26 Aug 2018, 6:36 pm

Many communities lack the financial resources to appropriately fund their economic development programs. Consequently, communities frequently settle by staffing their economic development programs with under-qualified leaders, and fail to make the necessary investments in baseline capabilities. The result is failure to deliver measurable results during the start-up period, and build local knowledge and support for strategies to advance economic health and resiliency.

New England Economic Development Services was recently appointed by the Mayor of Woonsocket, RI to serve as the Interim-Director of Economic Development for the City. NEEDS responsibilities will be as follows: (1) enhance staff capacity to manage current business investment opportunities; (2) design the City’s Department of Economic Development; and (3) recruit a new, permanent Director. The decision by the Mayor to engage NEEDS services allows the City to leverage NEEDS extensive professional economic development experience within the financial constraints faced by the City. By outsourcing the early start-up of the City’s economic development program, the Mayor maximizes the opportunity for early success, which hopefully will result in greater support for future program investments.

The strategic outsourcing of economic development efforts provides cities and towns greater flexibility in navigating volatile and changing competitive environments. Although outsourcing is not intended to take the place of a permanently funded and staffed economic development program, it can enhance the potential for early success, thus better positioning the community for recruiting the necessary human and financial capital in the future.

Rhode Island Transforms Tax-Increment Financing Statute 26 Jul 2018, 8:36 pm

The Rhode Island General Assembly recently approved modifications to the State’s Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) statute. The adoption of these revisions was a result of a two-year effort coordinated by New England Economic Development Services in Partnership with Karen Grande Esq. of the law firm Locke Lord, Grow Smart RI, and Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien.

TIF authority has long been enabled under Rhode Island statutes. Nevertheless, the TIF program has not been widely used by municipalities and towns, in part due to specific procedures and requirements of the program. Following sweeping reforms in Connecticut’s TIF statutes, there has been a significant increase in local economic and community development investments in Rhode Island’s western neighbor. NEEDS paid notice and moved to organize similar changes to Rhode Island’s statute. As a result, Rhode Island’s cities and towns have a significantly improved resource to support critical investments in their communities.

One of the more significant changes to the TIF statute is the elimination of the need to have the TIF District established within a Redevelopment District. This change eliminates the need for a community to embark on the more bureaucratic and expensive process of adopting a redevelopment plan and establishing a redevelopment agency. The revised statute gives communities the alternative path of establishing a more simplified TIF District Plan to be managed through the community’s legislative body and chief elected official. The new statute also allows a community to enter into an agreement with a developer that extends beyond the term of the sitting legislative body. Until the passage of this revision, only the City of Providence had this authority. Another important change is the authority to establish a betterment fee to properties within the TIF District that benefit indirectly through the TIF funded private and/or public improvement. Additional clarifications were made in the TIF statute that defines the flexibility of the use of TIF funded proceeds, which up till now were not clear.

In an era of declining Federal and State resources, it is increasingly important that local communities find creative ways to facilitate strategic investments in public and private assets. Because of modifications to Rhode island’s Tax-Increment Financing statute, communities now have an added tool to use. If you would like to further explore the TIF program and how it can be used by your community or project, give us a call for a free, no obligation conversation.

Leveraging Public Assets: A New Mandate For Local Governments 11 Jul 2018, 6:21 pm

The City of Newport recently launched the renovation and repurposing of the Sheffield School, a one-hundred-year-old surplus elementary school located on one of the City’s major thoroughfares. Named Innovate Newport, this project is part of a multipronged effort to leverage public assets to reposition Newport as a global leader in environmental and economic resiliency. Specifically, the Sheffield School will be renovated as a node in the City’s and region’s innovation ecosystem, focusing specifically on the technologies and intellectual capital emanating from the region’s robust defense, underwater, and marine sectors.

In this age of constrained public resources, typically local governments harvest their surplus real estate assets and use the proceeds to supplement municipal budgets. This one-shot approach to fiscal management ensures only that the taxpayers fail to realize the fiscal and economic rewards of valuable assets, which can generate annual returns for local governments for years to come. What’s needed is a more pragmatic approach to maximizing public wealth using a strategic approach to effectively manage the annual returns and life cycles of assets.

New England Economic Development Services, Inc. and The Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island are proud to be the City of Newport’s Preferred Developer for the Innovate Newport project. Projects like Innovate Newport serve as valuable examples from which other communities can learn how to leverage their assets for economic and community development goals. If you face similar challenges, we encourage you to reach out for a conversation as to how we can help your community emerge as a leader in this new age of public sector entrepreneurism.

NEEDS Retained for North Attleboro Downtown Streetscape Project 9 Jun 2017, 12:58 pm

NEEDS has been retained by Crossman Engineering to assist in the Town of North Attleboro’s downtown streetscape improvement initiative. NEEDS will be working with Crossman Engineering to manage stakeholder input and facilitation.

NEEDS Retained By The Burrillville Redevelopment Agency 17 Jan 2017, 8:46 pm

The New England Economic Development Services (NEEDS) has been retained by the Burrillville Redevelopment Agency (BRA) to write a redevelopment plan for the Nasonville Mill. NEEDS has partnered with New Commons and Deller Consulting to assist in this initiative.
The BRA has been highly successful in changing the economic fortunes of two redevelopment districts in the Town of Burrillville including the Stillwater Mill Redevelopment District and the Downtown Pascoag Redevelopment District. The Nasonville Mill initiative is another effort of the Town to facilitate reinvestment in its historic industrial and commercial assets for uses aligned with emerging market demands.