Port Authority Gets Down to Business

Tony Carton For The Prairie Advocate News

The Upper Mississippi River International Port District (UMRIPD) continues to edge closer to functionality as its Board works to adopt bylaws, appoint ethics officers, build communication tools, and further studies into possible projects, all the while pursuing a search for funding.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation creating the port district last year with the intention of stimulating economic efforts in the region.

Located in the far northwestern corner of Illinois, the port district could someday become a crossroads shipping destination because of its location on the Mississippi River and the BNSF railroad mainline linking Chicago with points north and west.

One of the unique features of the newly created port district is its location encompassing both Carroll and Jo Daviess Counties. That locale allowed for the appointment of two board members from each county and a fifth member appointed by the governor.

The UMRIPD Board members are Skip Schwerdtfeger (Chair), Jim Francis (Treasurer) Kevin Stier (Secretary), William Jahnke and Edward Olds III.

The board is currently meeting on the second Wednesday of the month in the third floor Boardroom of the Jo Daviess County Courthouse at 9 A.M.

Deciding on an initial project

“Port Authorities have the ability to make major economic differences in areas, but this one was created with no tax base,” Schwerdtfeger said. “We have bonding authority, but we have no money. We are a blank slate. We have no projects and we have no money.”

He said it is important to remember that the term port refers to any kind of port, airport, seaport, and rail port, even truck terminals, anything that serves to enhance the business environment in an area.

“We have the ability to move businesses or create business opportunities that would enhance employment opportunities for Jo Daviess and Carroll County residents,” he noted. “Our goal is to be an economic development engine and to fund ourselves to get started we’re going to be looking for some grant money or a project that would include some seed money.”

Schwerdtfeger added that the UMRIPD is the only Port Authority north of Peoria on the Illinois River and north of Granite City near St Louis on the Mississippi.

“The key to whether or not we succeed is going to be our first project and we don’t have any idea what that is going to be yet,” he said.

The UMRIPD Board is currently considering at least three possibilities for its first project. Those include the location of a large barge and dredging operation on the Mississippi River between Savanna and East Dubuque, issuing bonds to secure low income financing for the sale of a large NW Illinois medical facility, and again issuing bonds for the relocation of a proposed college campus within the Port District.

The potential for success

Board member Jim Francis said he believes the UMRIPD is making progress.

“Hopefully the outcome of this is to create some kind of development for Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties that is beneficial to the area and brings permanent high-paying jobs,” Francis said.

He said his research shows there is definitely the potential for success.

“There are other port districts that have become huge successes and they started with nothing, but they built successfully just like we are doing,” he said. “Our biggest hurdle is that we don’t have any funding mechanism.”

Francis said his vision for the UMRIPD is that it would become a tool for assembling and coordinating various entities to stimulate development.

“As I understand it, we have the authority to issue bonds,” he said. “A developer would then be able to borrow money at a much lower interest rate than they could otherwise.”

The UMRIPD role

Carroll County Administrator Mike Doty who is serving with the UMRIPD as one of its two Ethics Officers (Jo Daviess County Administrator Dan Reimer is the other) explained the bonding process further saying that using bonds issued by the Port District would save a business sizable amounts of money in interest rates and taxes.

“The district is just kind of a mechanism to make it happen at a lower rate,” Doty explained. “We are hoping to take away some of the layers that don’t actually have to be there and those layers would be some of the interest and taxes a business would pay using commercial notes.”

He added that it would be the district’s role as an economic development engine to secure cheaper finance for businesses interested in operating in the district.

“If a business were to finance using bonds issued by the Port District they could take as much as 2% off the table in costs,” Doty said. “That can amount to big money and sometimes those savings can serve as the incentive a company needs to decide to do business within the Port District.”

Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Northwest Regional Manager Teresa Kurtenbach also attended the July UMRIPD meeting and noted that in addition to tax savings and low interest financing, the Port District could also move to extend an Enterprise Zone in order to offer a business still further incentives.

“There are many types of incentives that can be offered by a Port Authority that can be just one more tool in the toolbox that you can offer to businesses to make them want to locate in Northwest Illinois,” Kurtenbach said.