With a handful of major tasks ahead of it, and the potential for more looming, the Effingham Industrial Development Authority hopes its budget for the pending fiscal year puts some of those plans in motion.

IDA members approved a $15.7 million budget at their meeting Thursday, with its sprawling I-16 project and work on the EFACEC site at the top of its spending priority list.

“This is the year we are going to make a large investment in property from an improvement standpoint,” IDA Chairman Chap Bennett said. “To me, that’s good news, because that gets us closer to our goal.”

The lion’s share of the expenses is in non-operating capital expenditures, totaling about $12.8 million. Of that, approximately $8 million is ticketed for improvements at the I-16 project, including infrastructure costs. The IDA expects to spend $4.65 million on the EFACEC site. The state is expected to contribute $2.95 million of that total through a OneGeorgia grant.

“The cost of doing anything these days is skyrocketing, mainly because of fuel,” Bennett said.

The IDA also plans on spending $100,000 on its massive Research Forest Tract. Research Forest is seen more as a long-term project than the I-16.

The IDA is forecasting a 5.27 percent increase in operating expenditures, from approximately $758,000 last fiscal year to $798,000 for FY09.

“We are managing two large parcels of property and working a heckuva lot of other deals,” Bennett said. “Five percent in this day and age is a fair estimate.”

Operating revenues are projected to be $4.12 million, with ad valorem taxes providing $3.45 million. Non-operating revenue is projected to be $7.5 million and capital income is pegged at $4.1 million from the pending sale of the I-16 south tract to DP Partners.