Published May 2004

EDC faces $50,000
budget shortfall

By Bryan Corliss
Herald Business Writer

The Snohomish County Economic Development Council is facing a cash shortfall after the city of Everett left funding for the business recruitment agency out of its 2004 budget.

Members of Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson’s administration point the finger at former mayor Frank Anderson, saying Anderson didn’t include any money for the development council in the budget Stephanson inherited when he took office.

But Anderson says he did set aside $50,000 for economic development. He just didn’t earmark it for the EDC, he said, because he wanted a City Council debate on whether giving money to the agency was the best way for the city to attract new business.

The bottom line is that the development council has a big hole in its $650,000 budget, and that could result in layoffs and cutbacks in business recruitment, said Deborah Knutson, the EDC president.

The EDC is a public-private consortium that works on new business recruitment and on public policy issues important to businesses. Its mission, according to its literature, is “everything it takes to attract and retain businesses, and create competitive high-wage jobs.” It gets much of its funding from local governments, with the rest coming from the private sector.

The new city administration has managed to scrape together $10,000 for the EDC, and wants to come up with the full amount. But it’s not easy, given that the city has a budget shortfall of its own, said Lanie McMullin, who was the city’s economic development director under Anderson, and is now city executive director under Stephanson.

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