The Greene County Board of Supervisors are looking to get community support in order for them to take the next step to eventually set up tax increment financing (TIF) funds from the wind turbines.

That step is having Paton, Dana, Grand Junction and Jefferson sign agreements to be a part of the County’s Urban Renewal Plan. Supervisor Vice-Chair Dawn Rudolph explains why they need those city councils to agree to be included in the plan for their TIF districts.

“The windmills are in that portion of the county. So that’s what ties all this together is the roads. The roads need to tie into the project, to lead to the project to where the destination is.”

She adds that the ultimate goal is to use TIF funds on road projects, but that can only be done if projects are identified through the Urban Renewal Plan. None of the wind turbines stretch down toward Jefferson, but Rudolph says they are also needing the City of Jefferson to be included so that they can use up to $5 million of TIF funds on the new career academy that’s included in the Greene County School District project.

Rudolph says the Urban Renewal Plan must be approved before they can officially enter into a 28E agreement with the school district to fully commit the $5 million of TIF funds toward their project.