The South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council approved a proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26 and discussed their 2030 Strategic Plan draft at Monday’s meeting.
To start the meeting three new council members were introduced. Jack Gardener from First Southern National Bank and Matt Cothran from the Cadiz Economic Development Council are joining the council. Then Jessica Addison the superintendent of the Todd County Public School System is joining the council as an ex-officio member.
Council Executive Director, Carter Hendricks presented the budget. In the upcoming fiscal year, Hendricks says the council is expecting around $667,000 in revenue which is around a 2% increase in comparison to last year’s budget.
Hendricks says the budget is balanced and includes around $667,000 in expenses.
Looking toward the council’s strategic plan, Hendricks says they hope to create 2,500 new jobs; increase average entry level wages to $22 per hour; create over $3 billion in new capital investments and secure over $20 million in grants for product development.
In the plan, automotive, agribusiness, advanced manufacturing, logistics and distribution, chemicals and defense and aerospace are target clusters that the council wants to bring to the region. By 2030 Hendricks says he hopes to attract at least one new industry to the region from each cluster.
Work continues on the strategic plan and it will be voted on at a future meeting.