By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Pima County is putting Project Blue land sale money toward economic development. Two hundred thousand dollars will be allocated toward five different chambers of commerce throughout Pima County.
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According to a Pima County memo, five chambers of commerce — Marana, Greater Vail, Green Valley-Sahuarita, Oro Valley and Southern Arizona Hispanic — will each receive $25,000. The money comes from funds the county received when it sold land near the Pima County Fairgrounds for the development of Project Blue.
Denise Bowls, president and CEO of the Greater Vail Chamber of Commerce, said the funding is welcome.
“It just helps when you see that the county supports the local chambers in your area,” Bowls said.
Carmine DeBonis Jr., one of Pima County’s deputy administrators, said the county is working on contracts with the five chambers of commerce in the region.
“We’re working on contracts with five of those chambers of commerce in the region. Each of those contracts has a scope of work that addresses needs of those chambers,” DeBonis said.
DeBonis said the plan is to support regional economic development activity, specifically focusing on business retention and expansion, marketing, events and small business support.
“This is part of a broader strategy to help assist small businesses in our community to go ahead and be successful,” DeBonis said.
In February, the Board of Supervisors approved $3.1 million of the $20.9 million the county received from the Project Blue land sale. DeBonis said the allocation of funds is in line with the commitment made by the county last year when it approved the land sale, saying money would go back into the community.
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Bowls said having the county invest in the chambers gives them more flexibility.
“Having the county invest in the chambers gives us a little bit more flexibility in what we offer without putting constraints on our funds,” Bowls said.
Pima County revisits its economic development plan every three years. As of last week, the county has a proposed plan for the next three years that adds tourism as a sector to aid in economic growth. Putting money from the Project Blue land sale toward chambers of commerce is in line with that economic plan.
DeBonis said chambers of commerce connect visitors to the community’s small businesses.
“People visit, they shop at our retail establishments, dine at our restaurants, you know, they attend our local attractions and the chambers of commerce are a conduit connecting our visitors to our community and those small businesses who operate here,” DeBonis said.
Bowls said she sees tourism growth happening in Vail.
“We not only want people to move here, that’s not the only goal, we also want businesses to move here so that people are happy to be here, they want to shop here, we keep our tax dollars here to help us grow our community,” Bowls said.
Contracts between the county and chambers should be finished sometime next week, and money should go to the chambers shortly after.
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