The Scoop: Will we listen or just complain?
I figured it would stir controversy when I reported economist Bill Fruth is being paid $48,000 for evaluating Warren County’s economy and making recommendations on how to improve it.
“It’s too much money,” folks have cried. “Pay me $48,000 and I’ll tell you we need high-paying jobs,” said our own reporter, Duane Sherrill.
But those complaints aren’t justified if we take the time to listen to Fruth’s advice. And whether we actually listen is the topic for its own debate.
Let me start by stating the obvious — $48,000 is an awful lot of money. It’s also close to what one Carrier employee (with an average salary of $46,000) earns in a year.
That said, it will be money well spent if Fruth’s advice helps Warren County attract one substantial manufacturer, and by substantial let’s say 200 employees. It will be money well spent if his advice can keep one existing industry from leaving Warren County (although there aren’t many with over 200 employees left).
Fruth had some pointers which will help this county greatly, and he’ll have even more advice when he returns near the end of the summer for a two-day visit. The trick is getting us to listen.
Fruth says the time is now to have sites ready for potential industry looking to locate here. In today’s fast-paced economic world, business executives don’t want to be shown a field that doesn’t even have road access. They don’t want to hear about how water and sewer access can probably be available in 90 days. They don’t want to hear about how the County Commission will begin considering their request for property tax relief at its next meeting in two months.
What business executives want is a site that’s ready to go. Just fill out a routine building permit and begin pouring the foundation. Have funding in place to offer incentives (not just tax breaks) and award them based on how much the industry will benefit our community.
Develop a training site in Warren County, maybe the old Powermatic building, and establish it as a place to train employees on specific equipment. Then when an industry does opens its doors here, it will have a fully trained workforce, not four months of lousy production.
I could go on and on about the abundance of solid advice offered by Fruth, but based on meeting attendance, people don’t want to hear it. They want to complain about $48,000 instead.
I do want to address a resounding chorus I’m hearing from folks about the idea of making Warren County a retirement community. From the way people talk, all we have to do is lure a few old folks with money to our county and, presto, our economic problems are solved forever.
I nodded off for most of the economic classes I took in school, but I retained enough information to realize retired people aren’t an asset to an economy. They don’t manufacture a product and they don’t have a payroll.
Most importantly, they want their cozy, little retirement home to stay that way. They don’t want big industries moving to town. They want peace and quiet, not hustle and bustle.
Yes, a retired couple will pay property taxes and buy and occasional steak dinner from Applebee’s. But if one of my sons wants to return to Warren County after college, that retired couple isn’t going to have a job for him.
For an economy to thrive, it needs primary industries like Carrier that not only have a substantial employee base, but also provide the work for spin-off businesses like Martin Crating and McCormick Trucking, just to name two.
If everyone knows this already, why are we trying so hard to lure retired people here? They don’t have a job and could probably care less if you and I have one. Maybe that $48,000 isn’t such a bad investment.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)