The Voice of Business, Industry & the Professions Since 1942
North Carolina's largest business group proudly serves as the state chamber of commerce

   


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


Visit us at 225 Hillsborough Street, Suite 460, Raleigh, N.C.
Write to us at P.O. Box 2508, Raleigh, N.C. 27602
Call us at 919.836.1400 or fax us at 919.836.1425
e-mail:
info@nccbi.org

Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved
Last Modified: October 04, 2004
Web Design By The
NCCBI Staff
Let Us Help You With Your Web Site Needs!