4 takeaways on economic development from the 2019 State of the County Report

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Journalists like me love reports and assessments. They’re easy fodder for a story and can often open our eyes to story ideas beyond the surface.

I’ll have a couple of stories in the coming weeks from the 2019 State of the County Report from the Chatham County government, but here at the Corner Store, we talk business and the economy. So it only makes sense to go over some of the numbers and things the county wants people to know about Chatham’s economy. Here are four takeaways:

2018’s big year skews the numbers

Chatham County is estimated to only have seen 161 jobs created this past fiscal year, a decrease of more than 67 percent from fiscal year 2018, and financial investment dropped by nearly 38 percent from the previous year. But don’t worry.

Chatham Economic Development Corporation President Alyssa Byrd told me the drop in new jobs from all sectors from 550 in FY 2018 can be attributed to Mountaire Farms, which contributed a large portion of the new jobs in FY 2018. She also pointed to a 35-job expansion at Engineered Plastic Components in Siler City.

County officials said during the 2020 fiscal year’s budget process that financial growth was stymied a bit by bad weather and other factors, which could have contributed to less construction. The budget message estimated that building inspection revenues dropped by more than $30,000 from FY 2018 to FY 2019, while residential permit revenues remained flat during the same time period.

An eye to the megasites

Chatham County’s business culture will dramatically change if and when some kind of corporation locates a manufacturing plant at either the Moncure Megasite off of U.S. Hwy. 1 in southeast Chatham or the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site in northwest Chatham.

The megasites are regularly mentioned by government officials in board meetings and the Report is no different. The document stated that the county has “continued working with property owners” at both sites.

The Report also mentioned the Carolina Core, a branding strategy for acres of development-ready land stretching from Surry County near the Virginia state line all the way down to Fayetteville, along the U.S. Hwy. 421 corridor. It’s a regional marketing effort that presents the whole region as a prime place for locating a new business or plant. Chatham is all in on the Core.

Spreading the wealth

The report noted that job growth and plant expansion happened around the county.

In Pittsboro, announcements by Capital Ready Mix Concrete and EG-Gilero combined to project 120 new jobs with $9.5 million in capital investment. Siler City saw 26 new jobs and at least $6 million of investment from new company A.D. Tubi USA and existing business Floorazzo. Southern Veneer’s purchase of Boise Cascade and its Moncure facility will include an $8 million investment, while Wilson Brothers Trucking of Bear Creek is creating 25 new jobs and pouring $4 million into its business.

It’s got to be good for the county, and the business community in Chatham specifically, to see this growth and expansion not limited just to one area of Pittsboro but across the 710 square miles that make up Chatham.

Business is a focus

I’ve written before about the intersection of government and business, and it’s something I’ll likely continue to write about. It’s something the Report mentioned as well.

“Chatham County’s culture values innovation, hard work and people of all backgrounds, making it an ideal place for families and businesses to flourish,” the report stated in its introduction. “The County continuously looks to cultivate competitive employment opportunities and add revenue so people can live and prosper for generations to come.”

The government benefits from more businesses and more jobs because it creates more tax revenue, meaning more programs and more improvements to facilities and departments. So making improvements to the business climate a focus is not surprising.

Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.