Use of tobacco money beneficial but could be better

A legislative audit released earlier this week took a critical look at some of the Virginia Tobacco Commission’s spending over the past decade, but also identified some investments that have provided significant economic benefit throughout the affected localities.

The study — carried out by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) at the request of the Virginia General Assembly — looked at the economic impact of the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization (TICR) Commission on its 41 member localities in Southside and Southwest Virginia.

“Part of our job is to be objective and see what’s being done here and try to push (TICR) more in the direction of doing the big economic impact projects,” JLARC study leader Walt Smiley said. “Not necessarily big (in size), but the projects that will have an impact and cut back on the projects that don’t have much of an impact.”

“Our standard was economic revitalization. The statute tells them to use the money to revitalize the area, so we just said ‘OK, how revitalizing have their projects been?’ ”

TICR was created in 1999 to “revitalize tobacco-dependent communities ... in an equitable manner” throughout Virginia’s Southside and Southwest regions. Since 2000, the 31-member commission has funded 1,368 grants totaling $756 million.

Read the expanded version of this report in the print edition or the enhanced electronic version of the Kingsport Times-News.