CRETE - After 15 years, a state program that helps sustain new and existing businesses in the city of Crete is set to expire. Now, after approval by the Crete city council last night, Crete citizens could ultimately get to decide if that grant gets another go-round in an election later this year.

For the past few weeks, the Crete city council has been considering whether or not to renew the city's proposed Economic Development Plan, which seeks to reestablish a connection to state grant money that's designed to help both new and existing businesses within the city limits survive and thrive. 

Funding from Legislative Bill 840 was first implemented in Crete in 2010, a $1.4 million surplus that was used to help the city's pool come into compliance with a federal statute, among other economic developments. That initial economic plan was designed to be grandfathered out in 2025, so now it's up to the current council to lead the campaign to review and potentially renew an updated plan this year. 

And that plan passed unanimously at Tuesday night's city council meeting, where Mayor Dave Bauer and others touted the benefits this program has helped Crete enjoy over the past 15 years. 

"The funds that were raised by LB840 has done a lot of good for the community," Bauer said. "We’ve done a lot things with that money, and helped a lot of businesses that we would not have been able to without it. So I think the city has seen the importance of it, and we want to be able to continue on, to do what it was designed for, and to continue to help the people."

"As far as investment of the LB840 money, I’ve had many people come up recently and talk about how the improvements in downtown Crete look very nice, so I do think it’s a good use of that funding and it’s doing what it’s intended to do," said councilmember Ashley Newmyer, a member of the city's legislative and economic development subcommittee that evaluated the renewal plan.

"We have a lot of things that we’re planning on doing in the future, and we need LB840 to do other things to free up funding so we can do those things with tax funds," City Administrator Tom Ourada said. "This grows our town so we can provide things for people that we wouldn’t be able to provide for otherwise."

The renewal plan, which is publicly viewable online, is anchored by four key objectives: generating employment opportunities; attracting new investments; sustaining existing jobs; and broadening the tax base to expand economic diversification. Ourada calls LB840 a tool that Crete can implement to help the city stay competitive with other communities. 

"We compete with other municipalities for population, for growth, and to try and be better, and innovate, and do well – and have people want to live here. And if you do the same old thing over and over again, you start to stagnate, and you cease to attract people," Ourada said. "We want people to come here and to live here and be happy that they’re here, and to contribute to make the town better, and LB840 is immensely helpful in doing that."

"We always want to make Crete better than what it is, and attract people here," Bauer echoed. "Every town is hoping to draw new business, and this program I think puts them over the edge to be able to do it. With that little bit of help for something that they need, they're able to open a business in Crete that maybe wouldn’t have been able to be opened otherwise."

There are plenty of examples of the impact LB840 has had on people and enterprises in the Crete community, financially and otherwise. Just two weeks ago, the council approved LB840 money for three different types of organizations with three different objectives at three different dollar amounts, proof of the diversity, utility and impact this funding can have.

With the preliminary plan approved by elected officials, the next step is review by the public. The proposed plan will be presented for review by Crete citizens in a public hearing at the next city council meeting later in July. And if it clears that hurdle, the measure will be placed on the ballot, and Crete residents will have the power to decide whether the city can continue to utilize LB840 funds in the future.