New economic strategy builds in Lakeville following $94,000 state grant

LAKEVILLE — The town recently received a $94,000 grant that will fund the creation of a new economic development strategy.

Lakeville received the grant from the state’s Rural Development Fund last week. Through a program called “Community One Stop for Growth,” Lakeville now has funds to hire a consultant to develop a fresh plan to increase economic growth.

“We’re in a position where most of our tax revenue comes from homes. We need to desperately develop some type of economic development strategy in town in order to further our goals of being less dependent on homeowners for tax revenue,” Select Board Chair Maureen Candito said during a Monday meeting.

The Economic Development Committee has begun creating resident and business surveys to prepare for the work to be completed under the grant. The surveys are intended to gather feedback from business owners and residents on topics such as infrastructure, retail and service needs, workforce considerations and how best to balance economic growth with the area’s small-town setting.

The town must hire a consultant before any strategic work can proceed.

“When the Select Board hired me, this was one of the main goals I wanted to do — an economic development overhaul across the entire town. Just from growing up around here, Main Street is not what it could be,” said Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth.

The grant funds small rural towns such as Lakeville to hire technical assistance to tackle economic and community developments. Sukeforth said his long-term vision for the grant program is to have the Economic Development Committee run the entire process. 

Sukeforth said after the strategic planning is complete, the committee would deliver an overall plan for “attacking” revenue opportunities to offset the town’s high reliance on residential tax rates. He said many similar rural communities have previously completed economic development work under the grant, so the town has some examples to work off of.

“It’s good to have an economic development committee going forward, and it's good to give them some ‘teeth’ in providing money and action — not just conversations,” Sukeforth said.

Lorraine Carboni, the Select Board Designee and committee chair, said she looks forward to the grant support that will guide the committee through creating the strategy.

"In the meantime, we are working to prepare questions that might be important to get out to those business owners and residents,” Carboni said.