By JIM BUTLER
Regis would tell Boyce it has one lifeline left, and wouldn’t have to ask twice if the town wanted to use it.
It’s not phone a friend, ask the audience or fifty-fifty, but comes instead in the form of a $4 million Community Benefit Agreement with Applied Digital, developers of Delta Forge 1 AI Factory Campus just across I49 from the town of 900 or so.
While all the paperwork hasn’t yet been completed with the England Authority construction on the $3.6 billion data center is forging along. The eventual client-tenant has yet to revealed.
Across the highway, Boyce continues to dig its way out of a financial/accounting morass inherited by the current administration and council.
A report a year ago questioned whether the town could continue to operate under conditions cited for an audit of the year ending in May 2024.
That report reinforces the opportunity presented by Allied’s $4 million gift.
Total town revenues in the audited year were about $3 million.
The audit report essentially indicated the town’s accounting practices were an absolute shambles and included 26 corrective actions officials agreed to take.
A follow-up in May of this year indicates some had been accomplished, some begun, some not yet undertaken.
Mayor Kelvin McCoy, who took office in 2023, noted recently that resolution of a police retirement pay issue and assumption of law enforcement in the town by the Sheriff’s Office has improved its financial status.
He said he and the town council continue to address the audited shortcomings.