THE KUNZE PLATFORM

Invest in People. Create Opportunity. Build a Stronger Daviess County.

My platform is built around a simple principle: Daviess County should use its resources to create greater economic opportunity for its citizens while building a stronger and broader tax base for the entire county.

1. Build trust and cooperation between Daviess County Fiscal Court and the City of Owensboro.

A. Acknowledge that property owners within the City of Owensboro currently pay about $5.8 million or 55% of the Fiscal Court property tax revenue.

Owensboro citizens receive a number of services from this revenue, including the detention center, sheriff’s bailiffs working in our court system, emergency management, parks, and the animal shelter.

However, Owensboro taxpayers also help fund about $3 million in services outside the city limits, for which they receive little or no benefit.

I propose that the County more fully invest in projects within the city limits that benefit all of Daviess County, especially initiatives that improve the economic lives of our citizens.

B. Develop a City/County shared occupational and net profits revenue policy

I propose an occupational and net profits tax Memorandum of Agreement between Daviess County Fiscal Court, and the City of Owensboro, that would share proceeds from those taxes with both the City and County, regardless of where a business locates.

I would suggest the following arrangement which recognizes that the City occupational and net profits tax rate is 1.78% and the County rate is 1%. For a new business locating within the City limits, the City government would share 25% of the tax proceeds with Fiscal Court and the County in turn would share with the City approximately 44.5% of the tax proceeds from a business locating outside the city limits. Because the two tax rates are different, this would equalize the share that each government would receive.

If such a policy had been in place when Owensboro Racing and Gaming located outside the city limits, the City would have received a portion of the tax proceeds.

This policy would remove significant competition for tax dollars between the City and County resulting from the location of new businesses, and foster a spirit of cooperation between the local governments.

True cooperation between the City and County increases public confidence and trust in local government and creates a positive community environment as we work to attract prospective business and industry.

2. Identify and Market Our Community’s Strengths

Identify the strengths that our local community college, other colleges and universities, school systems, and business community have, and base our economic focus on those assets.

Rather than simply saying we have programs that can train your workers, I want us to identify specific areas in which our community has demonstrated strengths, establish clear objectives around those strengths, and aggressively market those capabilities to business and industry prospects.

With that in mind, Daviess County can become a regional leader in several areas. I suggest that we consider the following four areas:

A. Industrial AI & Automation

Make industrial automation the centerpiece. Build on existing robotics, PLC, controls, machine-tool, electrical, and industrial-maintenance programs and market the practical training available in sensors, machine vision, data, artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, robotics integration, and Industry 4.0 technologies.

B. Industrial Cybersecurity

Modern factories, utilities, healthcare systems, and other critical operations increasingly depend on connected technology. Market our existing IT and cybersecurity education and training as a resource for businesses and industries that need people prepared to protect those systems.

C. Drones, Autonomy & AgTech

Connect Daviess County’s agricultural, aviation, manufacturing, and technology strengths. Market the training and capabilities already available in drone operations, mapping, sensors, precision agriculture, data collection, autonomous equipment, and maintenance of emerging systems.

D. Healthcare Technology & Career Advancement

Market the healthcare education, training, technology, and career-advancement resources already available in our community.

Make these existing strengths part of our economic-development message to healthcare employers and other businesses, while continuing to identify opportunities to advance local workers into skilled, better-paying healthcare careers.

3. Create an Economic Mobility Partnership

I would propose allocating $1.5 million of the Fiscal Court’s current underutilized $1.77 million economic development fund to establish two endowment funds administered through a new Economic Mobility Partnership.

Investment earnings would fund two programs.

The first would be a $1 million Workforce Advancement Fund designed for people who are already working and want to improve their skills, credentials, and earnings.

The second would be a $500,000 Career Launch Fund for first-time students entering college or pursuing careers in the skilled trades.

The Economic Mobility Partnership would establish the criteria for awarding these funds in collaboration with Owensboro Community & Technical College, other local colleges and universities, our local school systems, businesses, and industry.

The purpose would be more than simply providing scholarships or financial assistance.

We would identify the education, training, and career opportunities that can lead to higher-paying jobs and then invest in people who are prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.

I would also personally dedicate one-half of my annual salary as a county commissioner to these endowment funds.

Citizens and foundations would be invited to participate financially in this initiative so that the effort becomes a community partnership rather than simply a county government program.

Eventually, I would like to grow the endowment funds to $10 million. The interest earned from these funds could potentially award $5,000 scholarships to 100 individuals annually, training them to enter the workforce or moving them upward in their careers. This could create untold opportunities that will have a real impact on people’s lives.

4. Measure the Results of Economic Development Spending

Every economic development program receiving county funding should have clearly established criteria for measuring its results.

If taxpayers’ money is invested in economic development, we should be able to answer basic questions:

• County dollars committed to the project?

• Other public dollars leveraged?

• Amount of private investment?

• How many jobs were created?

• Wages those jobs pay?

• Number of Daviess County residents who obtained those jobs?

• How many people advanced to higher-paying positions?

• New occupational tax revenue generated by the project?

• New property tax revenue generated by the project?

• Would the project have happened without county assistance?

• Five-year performance versus the original promises?

5. Make Economic Mobility the Measure of Success

Economic development should not be measured solely by the amount of money invested, the number of announcements made, or the number of projects completed. We should measure what actually happened to people’s economic lives as a result of the investment.

Ultimately, I want the Economic Mobility Partnership to be tied to specific people and to measure improvements in their economic circumstances.

In Daviess County, approximately 26% of the households have an annual income of $35,000 or less. That is barely above the poverty level for a family of four. My goal would be to move individuals and families from one income level to another.

For example, if someone is earning $20,000 a year, the goal should be to help that person reach the $30,000 level. Someone earning $30,000 should have a pathway to $40,000; someone earning $40,000 should have an opportunity to reach $50,000, and so forth.

The goal is to create economic mobility—helping people move upward through the wage structure rather than simply creating economic activity around them.

If we can help individuals increase their incomes, we accomplish two things at the same time: we improve the lives of our citizens and we build a stronger economic and tax base for Daviess County.

6. Ensure County Government Is Publicly Forthcoming and Accountable

Ensure that county government is open, transparent, and publicly accountable not only for economic development initiatives, but for all projects and issues that come before Fiscal Court.

I propose that fiscal court make a standard policy of holding public hearings on current issues of concern to the public. People need to know that county government is working for them and willing to truthfully and openly discuss issues that may at times be controversial.

That is the standard I would want to bring to county government: build public trust, define and market our economic objectives, invest in people, publicly measure the results, and make upward mobility the ultimate measure of whether our economic development efforts are working.

If we do these things, I am confident that we will not only improve the lives of our current citizens, but also attract new business, industry, and people to our community.