Cabarrus County officials discussed the possibility of offering tax incentive grants for small, local businesses interested in expanding during the Cabarrus County commissioners’ annual retreat over the weekend.
John Cox, president and CEO of the Cabarrus County Economic Development Corporation, said the EDC has traditionally been focused on recruiting large employers to the region and marketing the Cabarrus County to companies interested in moving or expanding to a new location.
“I think that our community for a few years now has had a big discussion about economic development and the scope, the size, the shape and the role of it,” he said. “The traditional role the EDC has had was as a recruiter and marketer for the county.”
Cox said he has wondered if there’s a way to expand the role of the EDC. One example he gave was about Racing Electronics, a company that is interested in bringing jobs that are currently overseas back to Cabarrus County.
“Racing Electronics would like to onshore some jobs,” Cox said. “(The owner) wants those jobs to be filled by people who live in Cabarrus County. But his project is only about $500,000.”
That means the expansion would be eligible for a grant now, but it would be for less than $14,000. Cox said there has been some discussion about whether the EDC could match smaller incentive grants to existing Cabarrus County businesses with some of its own funding.
But changing the mission of the EDC would likely require more funding than the EDC receives now. Commissioners reduced the EDC budget last year by about 50 percent.
Scott Lampe, vice president and CFO of Hendrick Motorsports and treasurer of the EDC’s board of directors, said the EDC board is seeking additional funding from local municipalities.
“We want to get back to funding all of the recruitment things,” he said. “When you start talking about economic development across all of these facets, really, what the EDC is focused on is to recruit new businesses through these incentives.”
Lampe said the county has a competitive challenge in recruiting new businesses because there are a limited number of facilities to show compared to neighboring counties like Lincoln and Gaston.
County commissioners also have recently organized the Council for a Sustainable Local Economy, which is focusing on ways to promote local businesses and products. The council will begin looking at ways to change county policies that could promote the expansion of the local economy and small businesses already operating in Cabarrus County.
The council plans to sponsor three forums in February to look at county policies. Then, recommendations will be made in May or June.
“The EDC hasn’t traditionally tried to go and encourage the businesses to work with each other,” Lampe said.
Commissioner Jay White said, “I think that’s where I see the Council for a Sustainable Local Economy has a niche to fill.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement