JSDC Board Unanimously Approves Deobligation of Flex PACE Funds

The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. board voted unanimously March 9 to deobligate Flex PACE funds for 2023, 2024 and 2025, a move that could return more than $675,000 combined to the city of Jamestown and Stutsman County — provided local governing bodies sign off.

The vote alone does not release the money. If the Jamestown City Council approves the deobligation of 2023 and 2024 funds, the city stands to receive more than $434,000. Approval of the 2025 deobligation requires action from both the City Council and the Stutsman County Commission; if both bodies concur, the city would receive more than $241,000 and the county would receive over $60,000. No dates have been set for either body to take up the matter.

Alyssa Looysen, JSDC's business development director, said staff determined the amount being deobligated to the city of Jamestown needed to be adjusted. A previously cited figure had placed the city's share at more than $461,000, though the sources of that earlier calculation and its year attribution were not specified in board materials made public.

The deobligation carries a direct consequence for businesses and developers counting on 2025 Flex PACE commitments. Looysen said projects approved for Flex PACE funding in 2025 won't be funded for a while, though she did not identify which projects are affected or explain the specific circumstances that triggered the board's action.

Flex PACE is a financing tool that allows local governments and development corporations to assist businesses with loan costs, typically by buying down interest rates on qualifying projects. Deobligating the funds essentially recaptures money that had been set aside but not yet disbursed, returning it to the city and county for other uses once approved.

Also at the March 9 meeting, the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved advertising for qualified architectural and engineering firms to conduct comprehensive capital improvement planning for Jamestown's park system. No scope, budget or deadline for submissions was included in publicly available materials from that meeting.