 National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 31, No. 17 * September 13, 1999 Previous story | Table of Contents | Next story Booming economy no help to By Mary Ann Barton
Counties in urban areas are reaping the benefits from the nation’s booming economy while rural communities languish, according to county officials interviewed at the Annual Conference. “The economy is not good in our county,” said Jackson County (Colo.) Commissioner Dennis Brinker. “We’re an agricultural county, so it’s not affecting us. We’re not seeing it.” Jefferson County (Neb.) County Clerk Sandra Stelling tells a similar story. “We’re basically an agricultural county and that’s not good right now,” she said. The county, with a population of about 8,500, is located in the southeast portion of the state. “We have a lot of hog farmers in our area and hog prices are way down,” she said. Brinker, a past president of NACo’s Western Interstate Region and a member of the Public Lands Steering Committee, said tourism and recreation are possibilities, but “we’re not a destination, we’re a pass-through county.” “We’re struggling,” he said, explaining that the traditional businesses that had kept the economy going – timber, mining and oil production – have fallen by the wayside. “They’re at a standstill,” he said. One of the problems is that federal regulations prohibit use of land populated by the sage grouse, which is on the Endangered Species list, Brinker said. “We have the largest population in the West of that specific bird,” he noted. Meanwhile, the county is gearing up to sell itself as a recreation site, he said. The county also needs to provide telecommunications services to prospective businesses, he said. “We desperately need fiber optics. We need that for businesses to locate there.” WIR President Roger Chinn of McKenzie County, N.D., says “I’m from a very rural economy and we haven’t experienced the booming economy,”. The big industries there are agriculture and oil. “The turndown in agriculture and oil prices has affected us in the wrong way,” he said. “We’re a large public land county and I’m concerned about the direction the federal government is going,” Chinn noted. “There’s a push to lock up more land and if that’s part of your county economic base, it hurts.”
Residents recently approved by a 78 percent margin, a bond issue to build an $85 million convention center and hotel complex, according to Epperson. Also, the state recently issued a license for a new casino and hotel riverboat, which will bring the number of such businesses to two in Caddo Parish. Neighboring Bossier Parish has three riverboat casinos. They’re also making plans to build in El Paso County, Texas, according to Commissioner Charles Hooten. The county recently spent $120,000 for a master planner to draw up plans for a build-out of historic Ascarte Park. The county plans to spend millions of dollars on improvements to the park including an “enchanted forest” for kids, a sports facility, a lake trail, fishing piers, new boat docks and an interpretative area for migratory birds. Spotsylvania County, Va., population 90,000, is located just south of Washington, D.C. Capitol One Bank recently made a decision to locate in the county and plans to employ 1,200. The bank has also promised to locate a second facility there to employ an additional 1,200, according to Supervisor Mary Lee Carter. “The economy has given a surplus to all of Virginia,” Carter said, adding that counties there are pushing to get some of the surplus dedicated to education. In St. Francois County, Mo., Presiding Commissioner Mark Hedrick says the area has seen quite a bit of growth in recent years, from 48,000 in 1990 to 60,000 this year. He attributes much of that to people moving south from the St. Louis metro area. “People are coming for the education and the opportunity to work in our county,” he said. “We’re not a metro area but not a rural area either. It’s a relaxed atmosphere.”
They meet once a month and have been in existence at least 10 years. The group works closely with the state association, Colorado Counties, Inc. Spotsylvania County (Va.) Supervisor Mary Lee Carter says there’s a similar arrangement in her county, where they have joined forces with the City of Fredericksburg and Stafford County to form a regional council. “Sometimes we pull from one to the other, but we consider that it’s employment for the whole region,” she noted. Job growth is also what brings counties together in North Dakota, according to Roger Chinn of McKenzie County, N.D., where they operate a tri-county economic development program. “The goal is to bring technology jobs to the rural West,” he said, adding that a couple of tech companies have moved in. There’s a related push in St. Francois County, Mo., according to Presiding Commissioner Mark Hedrick. He described how his county works with immediate surrounding counties on job growth. “We also meet as county officials every month and go over our problems,” he said. The county is also building a regional justice center. “We have a regional center for juveniles and it seems to be working well,” he said. In Caddo Parish, La., there is a proposal to combine services with the City of Shreveport, Epperson said. (Kevin Wilcox, senior staff writer, and Victoria Vickers, editorial assistant, contributed to this report.) |