The Crookston E.D.A. met with the Ways and Means Committee earlier this week to discuss their preliminary budget and proposals for 2024.
The E.D.A. is estimating a total budget of $974,500 throughout three departments. The E.D.A. proposed that $509,000 goes toward the Community Development budget, with $277,000 for salaries.
The Marketing budget proposed to the committee for 2024 is in the amount of $140,000, with $58,000 going toward YouTube, social media platforms, and video/picture production. This is the first time the E.D.A. has created a set amount of funds for a marketing department.
The final budget department the E.D.A. calculated was for Valley Technology Park, estimated at $118,500, with most money for maintenance and utilities to the Valley Technology Park structure. “We’re looking at adding an entire marketing department to market our Parks and Rec, and our city and our business,” said Director of CHEDA Karie Kirschbaum, “This is so we can get behind that whole push, to market Crookston and highlight what a wonderful community this is.”
The E.D.A. has been awarded over $880,000 in grants in 2023, and for some grants, Crookston is eligible to apply for next year. “The USDA facility grants, we’ll start applying for that and hopefully be able to use those for different facilities,” said Kirschbaum, “I believe the limit on that is $50,000, and we’d have to match that, but as you see the roof of the public library, and on Valley Tech Park we’re going to need that money every year.”
Along with other capital improvement projects, the E.D.A. is looking to renovate the Red Barn in downtown Crookston and, most notably, Washington School. “We’re excited about that one. The S.E.H. assessment on that came back well,” said Kirschbaum, “Over the long term for that project, it will be around a million dollars to replace plumbing and that kind of stuff. This is still a great project, and the community seems to support it very much because the daycare facet of that is massive.”
CHEDA is considering purchasing Washington School because they believe the property could be utilized as an incubator for new businesses, expansion of the current childcare center currently housed in the facility, and a community resource center to provide cultural resources, local support, and children’s development.
The total estimated costs of the Washington School project are $996,500. The most significant prices estimated for this project include-
Building one set of accessible bathrooms is estimated at $125,000.
Replacing domestic water piping is estimated at $223,000.
Eliminating the steam and heating system and controls costs $345,000.
