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Board provisionally includes Enterprise Center funding after presentation; orders fall review
Summary
The Enterprise Center of Johnson County presented metrics claiming a large economic return on county support and described a new Kauffman loan‑readiness grant; commissioners voted to include the center's full requested 2027 funding but required a follow‑up study session this year to set measurable outcomes and revisit ongoing support.
Jeff Shackleford, representing the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, presented county commissioners with a multi‑program summary and a set of impact claims during the Committee of the Whole budget hearing.
Shackleford said the center used roughly $2.7 million in county funding coupled with federal grant support to leverage programs that, according to the center's internal accounting, produced tens of millions in program funding and—he asserted—about $1.3 billion in economic impact over the period studied. He described programs that included small‑business consulting, LaunchU business‑launch programming, a childcare‑spot initiative and a new three‑year Kauffman Foundation‑funded loan‑readiness grant that requires a local match.
"We've received from the county $2,700,000 in funding ... that's $23,200,000 in that four‑year time period, which has returned 1,300,000,000 in economic impact," Shackleford said, framing the return on county investment in large multiples. He also said the Kauffman loan‑readiness program is a three‑year grant that must be matched locally and that it includes budgeted staff positions for implementation.
Commissioners pressed Shackleford for detail about how those impact numbers were calculated, how much of the center's budget is covered by the county and whether the center plans to pursue revenue models that would reduce county dependency. Commissioners also asked whether the center could increase fee‑for‑service revenue or private support.
After extended discussion, the board voted to include the Enterprise Center's full requested 2027 funding in the July maximum budget submission while requiring a study session this calendar year for the center to present measurable outcomes and a plan for 2028 funding decisions. The motion passed in a roll call 5–1.
The board's action preserves the center's near‑term funding but makes continued support conditional on the fall review and on the center's ability to document outcomes and match commitments tied to grant programs.
