102 YEARS TeTon Valley news - april 28, 2011 - page a1

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Balloon fest fate up in the air

Lisa NyrenTVN Staff

If Teton Valley residents want to see hot

air balloons in the sky for Independence Day this year,

they’re going to have to help fund the event.

The Teton Valley Chamber of Commerce announced this

week that the high point for many of the Teton Valley summer festival is too

expensive for them to put on alone.“The major thing was that … in the past

there’s always been one big sponsor,” chamber president Kevin Owyang said Tuesday. “This year that’s not there.”

But while the outlook for the event is grim,

the chamber still has hope.“We’re looking at a number of ways to scale

it down,” Owyang said.The Grand Teton Balloon Races began

as a Father’s Day celebration in 1982. A few years later it became part of the valley’s annual summer festival.

But the balloons and their pilots don’t come cheap.

Owyang said last week that it cost about $32,000 to put on the event last year, and the chamber ended up losing $2,000.

“We are headed into the summer without the sponsorship dollars and volunteers necessary to execute the event. If we don’t see a significant contribution of time and funding from the

Balloons continued on A13

TVN file photo

Ken LevyTVN Staff

The Teton County Commissioners Monday turned down a $75,000 request from the fledgling Teton Valley Business Development Center to help cover the cost of an office, executive director and half-time staff.

“We presented the value and benefit to the county of the TVBDC,” said board member Anne Callison, in an interview. “This is so disappointing.”

TVBDC is looking to help jump-start the valley’s flagging economy.

“While it’s appropriate for the county to support economic development, we don’t have that kind of money,” said Kathy Rinaldi, county commissioner, in an interview. “That would have had to be budgeted for last August.”

Even then, that amount would not be available, she said.

“The county has never given that much to a nonprofit,” said Rinaldi.

The county starts its fiscal year with $100,000 in contingency funds taken from “padding” from agencies not using all of their funding. With five months left in the fiscal year, it has about $18,000 left, Rinaldi said.

That fund is intended for emergencies, such as a server failure, and is used for assistance to nonprofits. That assistance includes some to the Teton Valley Hospital Foundation for suicide prevention and counseling; the Seniors West of the Tetons; the Rotary

Foodbank, and the Targhee Animal Shelter.

Funding from the county is dependent on what return it will get from its investment of tax dollars, she said, whether in goods or services.

“We don’t have a lot of resources to fund every request,” said Rinaldi. “The needs are great. We got $2 million more in request from our departments than we have.”

Rinaldi said the request from TVBDC to contract with the county would have to go through procurement processes, including requests for qualifications and other requirements.

She praised the concepts put forth by the TVBDC, and said it could be possible down the line that the county would consider funding in some amount.

Commissioner Kelly Park praised

the group but agreed about the lack of funding available.

“That’s a large amount for a nonprofit to be asking for,” Park said. “But this is a good group, and the community should be involved. They would be a great benefit to help the economics of the community.”

“We’ve established good relationships with the Idaho Department of Labor, Commerce and the Small Business Development Center,” Callison said, along with economic development representatives in Fremont and Lemhi counties, among others.

Teton County is the only county in eastern Idaho without an economic development agency, said Callison.

“We think there’s some force in the county that doesn’t want new business here,” she said.

The TVBDC wants government representation on its board, including officials from the county and its cities.

“We’re the boots on the ground,” she said, referring to the agency’s efforts to sustain local businesses and find and attract new businesses in the valley.

“The companies we’re looking for operate in the cloud,” said Callison. “We’re looking at an information-based economy.”

Callison said there is limited opportunity in the valley for manufacturing-based businesses due to

Proposal for $75K in funding a no goWe think there’s

some force in the county that doesn’t want new business

here.

Ann CallisonTeton Valley BusinessDevelopment Center

Business continued on A13