Kempthorne Panel Urges Rural Boost Task Force One Of Many To Offer Reports

Idaho should take strong steps to boost the drooping economies of its rural areas, a special task force for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne recommended Wednesday, from bringing in high-tech telecommunications links to giving businesses specific incentives to expand there.

“We all want to keep a robust economy, but spread it around the state of Idaho,” Kempthorne said.

The report from the Governor’s Task Force on Rural Development was one of eight Kempthorne heard Wednesday at a gathering of many of his task forces and advisory councils. But it marked the release of recommendations from the rural task force, which have been in the works since last March.

“The state should be in a position to help those local communities that want to help themselves,” said Peter O’Neill, a Boise developer and chairman of the 65-member task force. “This isn’t a forced-feeding exercise.”

The report recommends expansion of programs to train and retrain rural workers; more grants to build public facilities in rural areas, including roads and water systems; and more state investment in rural economic development for communities that also ante up their own public and private investments.

Kempthorne said the recommendations will join those from his other task forces on a broad “menu” of ideas. He’ll choose from that menu as he puts together his proposed state budget for next year.

The rural task force won’t be the only one looking for funding. Kempthorne’s Agriculture Initiative Task Force on Wednesday recommended more funding for the state Department of Agriculture and the University of Idaho College of Agriculture. Other groups are working on ideas to boost technology, international trade, entrepreneurship, tourism, work force development and more.

“I’ve never been able to go into a restaurant and know that I could order the entire menu and afford it,” Kempthorne said.

The recommendations will be examined, and some may be combined, he said. Several of the groups, for example, mentioned the importance of connecting the whole state with broadband telecommunication service, considered a must for attracting high-tech companies.

Idaho has 21 telephone companies, some regulated and some not, O’Neill said. “We’re living under a system that was designed for a different era. I think everyone’s on a very steep learning curve.”

Kempthorne said companies may not see much payoff in bringing their services to Idaho’s rural areas because they see little economic activity there now. But the lack of those same services may be what’s stymieing economic growth.

“It may be a public-private partnership,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be a role for government.”

Hundreds of Idahoans, including a cross-section of the business community, lawmakers, educators, state and local officials and experts, are serving on Kempthorne’s task forces and advisory groups. Some of these groups have been working for as long as a year. Most are planning to finalize “white papers” containing specific recommendations for the administration within the next couple of months, to allow Kempthorne to consider the ideas before the start of the next legislative session in January.

Kempthorne said his approach is designed to be “forward-thinking,” rather than just reacting to immediate problems.

With Idaho now likely to have a budget surplus of $250 million, Kempthorne said there are opportunities for the state, but he cautioned that much of the surplus may be one-time-only money that can’t be committed to ongoing state programs.

State Rep. Dolores Crow, R-Nampa, chairwoman of the House Revenue & Taxation Committee, agreed. A strong advocate of spending surplus money on tax cuts, she’s working with Kempthorne on a task force looking at tax issues.

Crow said Wednesday that she favors putting a large portion of the surplus into tax cuts, but with the ballooning numbers, “There’s a lot left over to do things that need to be done. So I think we have a win-win this year.”

She added, “We’re working together on it this time. That should work out in a lot better manner.”

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Expand job training programs

Build more rural infrastructure such as roads and water systems

State invests in towns raising own economic development funds