|
Editorial
for October 2004
Economic
Development, II
Exactly
one year ago in this space, I criticized state officials for continually
bragging about North Carolina’s No. 1 ranking in Site Selection magazine’s
survey of states with the best business climates at a time when the actual
results of our economic development efforts were lackluster at best. I pointed
out that over the two years that Site Selection had ranked us No. 1, we had
landed just one of the nation’s 40 largest industrial expansion or relocation
deals.
Other worried voices were raised. NCCBI leadership publicly urged action to
reinvigorate North Carolina’s economic development efforts. The General
Assembly signaled its concern by appointing a blue ribbon panel to study changes
in policy that would strengthen the state’s competitiveness for new jobs.
A year later the picture is much brighter. Based on extensive interviews and
exhaustive research for this month’s cover story, which begins on page 12,
it’s obvious that the state had a banner year. Economic developers at the
state, regional and local levels were given new tools to work with — an
expanded Jobs Development Investment Grant program, a replenished One North
Carolina Fund, the new Site Infrastructure Development Fund and other
inducements. Better armed, they hit the market hard and scored often.
Just look at the chart on page 16 of the 10 biggest deals that North Carolina
landed this past fiscal year. If you compare this list to the national top 10,
as published in the May issue of Site Selection, we could claim at least one and
possibly three of the 10 spots. Of course, this isn’t a true comparison
because the state and national lists are snapshots of different periods of time
— fiscal year vs. calendar year.
How and why North Carolina climbed back into the national spotlight in
industrial recruitment and expansion is an interesting story whose major
conclusion is that the state’s more aggressive use of incentives can be
directly linked to 23,637 new jobs and nearly $4.3 billion in new investment.
That compares to $3 billion in investment and 22,395 the previous year.
This also is a story of how the economic development community pulled itself
together and, with NCCBI at the forefront, stormed the General Assembly with a
persuasive message of “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Legislators responded with at
least 16 helpful new laws or programs, making the last session of the General
Assembly one of the best in a generation for economic development.
However, I still don’t think we can truly say North Carolina has the
nation’s best business climate, not when our corporate income tax rate is the
third highest in the Southeast and the top marginal personal income tax rate is
the seventh highest in the nation and the highest in the Southeast. NCCBI will
be working hard in the coming year to bring those rates down.
If that happens, and our economic development policies continue landing as many
winners as we did this year, then we truly can claim the No. 1 label. -- Steve
Tuttle
|
