$16 M Awarded To Boost Georgia Business

More than $16-million in grant money is headed for boosting economic development around the state.

The money comes from the OneGeorgia Authority, which uses tobacco settlement money to help rural counties and towns attract new companies. The money also helps expand existing business and boost public infrastructure.

Of the several counties getting money, four are for economic projects connected to the new KIA plant—about $7-million combined.

The Governor’s office says the grant money awarded to all projects statewide will lead to the creation of more than 2,000 jobs combined over three years.

Trauma Care An Economic Issue

A group of business leaders is pressuring the General Assembly to improve Georgia' trauma care system. They say it's not just a health issue, it's also about economic development. Members include Senator Don Balfour and Medical College of Georgia President Dr. Daniel Rahn. The group says Georgia will have trouble attracting business if we can't guarantee their employees will have access to emergency care. The group plans to work with lawmakers over the next several weeks. Experts studying the issue estimate that $80 million is needed each year to adequately fund a statewide network.

Developers Could See Looser Regulations

Georgia House members are considering loosening regulations for builders as a way of stimulating the economy.


With the housing market in the gutter, and unemployment rates following the nose dive of the construction industry, state lawmakers like Rome Republican Representative Katie Dempsey say looser building regulations could aid the economy. Dempsey says the key would be to make construction guidelines uniform throughout the state.

"Just one area in particular, buffers. Different counties sometimes create different amount of buffers. Even just your fencing and landscaping can be added on and can be cost prohibitive for development," Dempsey says.


Buffers are generally no-build areas designed to protect the environment and are often costly to developers.

Meanwhile, the national public is opposed to reduced economic regulations, according to recent polling. Last month an LA Times/Bloomberg poll showed half of all respondents blamed the economic fallout on lax governmental regulations throughout the economy.

Albany tire plant closing down

Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. says it will close its plant in Albany, Ga., the result of a capacity study of its four plants.

The Findlay, Ohio-based company will keep open plants in Findlay; Texarkana, Ark.; and Tupelo, Miss. The company announced the decision in a conference call Wednesday.

Workers were told in October that the company was facing higher costs and shrinking demand, and that Cooper had to make a dramatic cut. The company embarked on a study of each of its plants while the factories and their communities worked to provide Cooper with reasons to keep operating.

In Findlay, union workers voted to accept a pay cut. In Texarkana, the union voted to scuttle its current contract in favor of one in which workers would freeze salaries.

(AP)

Recession not slowing economic development push

Georgia like the rest of the nation is suffering through the recession. But a group of state economic development leaders on Tuesday said Georgia is well positioned to weather the storm while still expanding its global reach.

That’s because they say key ingredients remain strong in Georgia. They point to workforce training, ability to attract a young population, and Georgia’s transportation infrastructure.

Ken Stewart with Georgia’s Department of Economic Development acknowledges the state’s construction and textile sectors have taken hard hits in the ailing economy. But he says for the past six months, the state has been pushing its aerospace, life-science and agriculture industries worldwide.

"What we do is we go sell what we know is sustainable. We’re selling our strategic industries in a proactive and focused way. It’s a simple process. We say which industry segments to we want to grow--where are the companies throughout the world within those industry segments that are leaders and need to have access to this marketplace."

In their trips to bring new business to Georgia, officials say it’s what they cannot control that’s been the problem--the general global economic malaise postponing company expansion plans. Sam Williams is president of metro Atlanta’s Chamber of Commerce:

"They’re not saying we don’t want to come to metro Atlanta or Georgia...they’re saying we still want to come, but we’re having problems borrowing money and arranging our capital financing to accommodate growth and expansion there. So they’re saying ‘let’s keep in touch, we still want to do this, but let’s talk in March, let’s talk in June’."

Williams is hopeful that a proposed economic stimulus package by the incoming Obama-administration to target the nation’s infrastructure might benefit Georgia. Williams says investment in the state’s transportation grid can quickly open the door to new jobs.

Economic development officials plan to push Georgia lawmakers in January on issues such as transportation funding and rolling back tax rates on businesses.

Henry Co. food bank truck, food stolen

The operator of a food bank in Henry County is wondering why someone would steal thousands of pounds of food.

The heist of the 25-foot truck that held 6,500 pounds of food items occurred Sept. 15.

Lori Miller, executive director of Helping in His Name Ministries, said she was heartbroken by the theft. The food was to be given to people in need of assistance.

Miller said the food pantry has seen a growing demand for their services from struggling families.

The food bank, located in Stockbridge, serves an average of 2,400 people a week.

Police said no arrests were made.

(The Associated Press)

Economic Slump Spurring Creative Carpet Strategies

Calhoun based Mohawk Industries reported a 23 percent decline in the past year. Similar slumping industry performance has forced over 2000 layoffs in the Northwest Georgia region.

Now officials in the flooring industry are thinking creatively to get through tough times. Part of that creativity means diversifying markets. Mohawk is ramping up commercial carpet production to help offset lack luster home flooring sales. Mohawk is also increasing domestic production of laminated floors. Officials hope this will stretch a weakening US dollar as well as cut down on fuel prices.

Meanwhile, fuel costs have spurred rival flooring firm Shaw Industries to begin producing bio-fuels. The Dalton based company is hoping a bio plant in Alabama will save three dollars a gallon on distribution costs. Still, these efforts aren’t expected to bring the industry out of the slump. Many in the industry expect tough times to last until the end of 2009.

Kia: mixed signals over car plant plans

Artists rendering of completed Kia automaking plant. (Courtesy/Dave Bender)

Local Kia officials on Wednesday denied a rumored change in car production plans for it's west Georgia plant, set to open in 2009.

Senior Hyundai officials in Korea were quoted on Tuesday as saying that the plant would retool to produce a small car, instead of a planned SUV model due to fast-rising gas prices, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But Richard Park, media-relations chief for Kia's Georgia operation confirmed that -- locally, at least -- they're still on track to build the larger vehicle:

“Right now, we're not giving any, any information from headquarters, officially. So, in my understanding, our original schedule will be ongoing. That's the only thing that I can confirm officially.”

As well, Randy Jackson, Kia's director of human resources and administration amplified Park's words in a statement released Wednesday:

“At this point, the next generation Sorento is the only vehicle that I can confirm we will be producing in West Point."

It's as yet unclear what impact, if any, a move to a smaller vehicle would have on the planned $1.2 billion West Point plant.

Officials say the plant will employ 2,500 people, and produce upwards of 300,000 vehicles annually.

Tractor clearing brush for new entrance road to Kia plant from I-85. (file photo/Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the facility and its economic effects on the area.

NY county using water to woo southern companies

The drought in north Georgia is getting one upstate New York county to market its abundance of water to southern companies.

With the falls in New York's Niagara County there's plenty of water, and officials there want business in the South to know about it. They're planning a media campaign highlighting the area's wealth of power and fresh water.

Fred Teeter is with the Niagara County Office for Economic Development. He says if the drought continues, businesses in the South may need an option.

"Building permits for industry are starting to be held-off or denied, so that becomes a serious problem for everyone. It's our intention to certainly just make southeast companies aware of the availability of water in our area".

Teeter has visited at least four southern states, including Georgia and North Carolina which have been hardest hit by the drought. But Teeter admits that when it comes to nice weather, the South definitely has more of it.

Jobs funding for Chattahoochee Valley

Columbus, The Chattahoochee River, and Phenix City, Ala. (Dave Bender)

The Georgia Office of Workforce Development presented a $3 million grant to the Valley Partnership on Wednesday.

The group spearheads economic development in Georgia and Alabama along the Chattahoochee valley, and includes representatives from Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Muscogee, Talbot and Taylor counties in Georgia, and Phenix City, Alabama.

The funds are part of a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and will be used to create jobs in automotive maintenance and aerospace manufacturing; communications and IT, and industrial construction, and are earmarked, in part for nearby Fort Benning according to the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Georgia economic development, and here to read more about events at Fort Benning.

Perdue and state delegation continue China business trip

Governor Sonny Perdue’s economic development trip to China has yielded at least one company’s announcement to base its U.S. headquarters in Georgia.

PAX Technology is a Chinese firm that provides secure card electronic payments systems and point-of-sales software. It plans to establish a sales center in Atlanta, bringing about 20 jobs. Within the past two years, a handful of Chinese companies have announced they’ll bring 60-million dollars in investment and more than 650 jobs to Georgia.

Perdue and a delegation of 60 Georgians are in the midst of a five-day business trip to the world’s most populous country. Their goal is to bring more jobs and money to the state.

The trip has also included the opening of a Georgia trade office in Beijing, and the announcement of an exchange between the University of Georgia and Tsinghua University in China.

17-mill goes to rural counties' economic development

More than 17-million dollars in grant money was awarded today to help kick-start economic development in rural areas of Georgia.

The money comes from the OneGeorgia Authority, which uses tobacco settlement money to help less-populated counties and towns attract new companies. It also helps expand existing business, and boost public infrastructure.

Nearly 10-million dollars is going to 7 rural counties and their development authorities. It includes 6-million earmarked for Treutlen County’s area development of the Range Fuels ethanol plant, which just had its groundbreaking Tuesday. Another million-and-a-half dollars goes to Twiggs County, to buy land for a new sporting goods distribution center.

Other money awarded is going to development and improvements in the northeast Georgia counties of Franklin, Hart, and Stephens.

Macon's Water Advantage

Macon has found a silver lining to Georgia's drought. Local economic development officials traveled to a Chicago trade show recently and brought the Macon Water Authority along with them. They told business leaders from around the country that all of Georgia is not running out of water.

Despite the fact that Macon is under level two drought restrictions, their reservoir is full. In fact it's got 6.5 billion gallons. The city built the new reservoir and water treatment facility after a massive flood in 1994.

Officials with the Macon Economic Development Commission say their new water marketing strategy appears to be paying off. Just two days after the show, one food service company sent a representative to check out Macon. That company could employ up to 200 people.