The Fayette Citizen-News Page
Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Boothby: Top prospects put off by lack of support

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

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Lack of support for economic development efforts by the Fayette County Commission is working directly against the interests of the county, said a frustrated John Boothby.

To provide jobs that match the skill levels of county residents, the Fayette County Development Authority must bring high technology, high-paying jobs provided by industries that are heavily courted by other counties and cities, Boothby told The Citizen Monday.

"And in that highly competitive environment, it's really hard to pull on an oar with one hand and try to bail with the other and expect to win the race," he said.

Increasing criticism from the County Commission is causing him to have to bail, he added.

In response to commission chairman Harold Bost's contention that new jobs are not needed because the county unemployment rate is low, Boothby said unemployment rates don't provide an accurate picture. Spouses who would like to work but can't find jobs usually don't drive outside the county to file unemployment claims, and many residents who travel outside the county would like to have jobs closer to home, he added.

The Development Authority's goal is to attract not just jobs, but better jobs, he said. Jobs inside Fayette pay an average of $22,885 a year, compared to a national average of $29,861 and an Atlanta average of $33,311, he added.

On the other hand, he said, 58 percent of Fayette's jobs are filled by people who live here; 12 percent by Coweta residents, 11 percent from Clayton and the rest scattered among Fayette's neighbors as far away as Carrollton.

Fayette residents who work inside the county earn an average of $30,345, while those who commute earn an average of $41,010, Boothby said.

"I'm making a presentation tomorrow [Tuesday] to a potential high-end, high technology operation that by 2005 will make a $250 million investment in some community, and Fayette County was invited to participate. Ten years ago, we would not have been invited," Boothby said. "They want to make sure they've got a supportive community," he added.

Fayette is just getting into position to go for the top industries paying the highest salaries, Boothby said, adding, "We came in at the bottom."

During last weekend's annual retreat meeting, Bost quoted figures showing that 18 new industries brought into the county by the development authority since 1994 paid a total of about $1.3 million in taxes over five years, while the county budget for the Development Authority was about $875,000. Bost suggested that additional costs of bringing in the new industry, such as road improvements, plus the tax burden of new residents moving in to fill the jobs, more than negated the tax benefit.

Other commissioners called for more study before reaching conclusions based on that information. "I sense that a conclusion on the part of some folks has been reached and we're now looking for information to justify that decision," Boothby said.

There's more to the task of economic development than taxes paid by new industry, he said.

"In our strategic plan, existing industry is the most important. We work harder on helping the companies that are here grow through the existing industries committee than we do on bringing new industry in," Boothby added.

A recent survey of existing industry showed that expansions (among those responding to the survey) in the last five years brought 1,741 jobs to Fayette County, while new companies moving here brought only 781. Those existing industries are given no tax breaks or other incentives, paying taxes on every dollar of expansion, Boothby said.

And both existing industries and new ones add more to the community than taxes, he added. Industries donated the fountain that adorns Peachtree City Hall, and have contributed computers to local schools, bulletproof vests to police officers, have built parks that residents can enjoy and in other ways have contributed, Boothby said.

"These folks read the papers, and frankly I'm embarrassed to have the companies that are doing these good things and the thousands of people who work in them hear our county's leaders saying they don't contribute," he added.

Boothby said he agrees with remarks made by some commissioners that the authority should concentrate on high-end industries. "Part of the role of the authority is to politely say to some industrial prospects that they should look somewhere else, and we do that all the time," he said.

But attracting "the high-level career opportunities that we are trying to generate" requires aggressive effort, he added. "If you don't step up to the plate and say, 'We want you,' they go somewhere else, and you get what's left," he said.


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