Staff pitches FY2027 RCG budget to build county economic development capacity; board debates studies vs direct investment

County staff presented a proposed FY2027 Rural County Grant (RCG) budget June 24 that prioritizes building an in-house economic development function and targeted county projects, and the advisory board debated whether the county should spend on external studies or on direct capacity and projects.

Melissa Jeffers (S8) laid out a proposed package for FY2027 that captures the $200,000 the county expects to receive: she identified roughly $50,000 already committed to the Canyonlands Field Airport contractor, about $60,000 budgeted for development staff, $30,000 for memberships and partnerships (including an EDC Utah membership estimated between $20,000 and $30,000), $10,000 for county profile/marketing and $10,000 for a dashboard to track key metrics, $10,000 for reporting studies and profiles, and $30,000 set aside as matching funds/seed capital to leverage non-GoEd grant opportunities.

“We wanna be able to build that capacity, and that this is sort of like a recovery year,” Jeffers said, explaining that some RCG funds were used this year to support temporary staff after the county’s previous economic development budget was cut.

Members probed the value of commissioning additional studies versus funding staff and implementation. One member (S2) said studies can repeat what the board already knows without delivering actionable roadmaps; another member (S4) argued that a dashboard and targeted paid reports (for example, sales-tax leakage analyses or investment prospectuses needed for bonding) are necessary to make longer-term decisions and to support public–private partnerships.

On the regional grant (RCOG) front, Jeffers proposed a county-led project to develop an industry cluster in health-care and wellness — leveraging the county’s airport connections and a Level-4 trauma hospital with surgical suites — and suggested partnering with EDC Utah and the hospital to recruit elective surgery or orthopedic practices that could create higher-paying jobs and workforce pipelines in partnership with USU.

Board members asked staff to return with examples of county projects from other jurisdictions and to place the FY2027 budget as an action item at the next meeting so the board can deliver a formal recommendation before the state application deadline.