Although no announcements heralding the entrance of a major, high-paying employer into the Cape Fear region have come about so far this year, local leaders say the need for new jobs remains high on their list of priorities.

Some of the latest, most visible signs of a continued emphasis on economic development for the Wilmington area  have come in the form of increasing economic development funding, starting construction to improve infrastructure and supporting existing industries.

One example expected to have an impact on the region as a whole is the extension of water and sewer lines along U.S. 421, considered one of the last major zones of undeveloped industrial land in New Hanover County.

Part of the project, a partnership between the city, New Hanover County and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, has been progressing well, CFPUA spokesman Mike McGill said.

“We’re about to pull the pipe under the river for installation,” he said earlier this month in an email. “We’ve also drilled under the river for the sewer mains and have begun the installation process where we pulled the mains from the eastern banks under the river to the western side.”

New Hanover County commissioner Rob Zapple points to the water and sewer work as a triumph.

“It’s absolutely ideal for economic development but also meets one of the major focus points of the Garner report,” said Zapple, referring to an analysis of the county’s economic development needs that was presented to county and city officials in 2014.

The report said rebuilding existing and/or adding infrastructure would be key to meeting economic development objectives, and both city and county officials identified the goal of extending water and sewer along U.S. 421 up to the Pender County line as one of six to work on first out of the suggestions made by the Garner analysis.

That has proven to be a successful choice, Zapple said.

“Any time you can look back to a major study
that we paid for and take recommendations
form consultants and put it to work, that’s a positive, I think,” he said.

Finding the money to finish the water and sewer extension is going to be key for local officials in the future.

The city’s contribution to the current steps needed for the extension consists of providing the use of city land for construction and maintenance of the lines.
At one point, the county had estimated that the remaining work to fully extend water and sewer from the Isabel Holmes Bridge to the Pender County line could cost $12 million.

County commissioners approved a budget in June that included about $100,000, expected to be taken from a $500,000 general economic development line item, to fund a preliminary engineering report to help the county and CFPUA with determining the most accurate cost for the whole project, officials said.

“Infrastructure improvements are opening up exciting opportunities for job growth and business recruitment along Highway 421,” said Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development, in a recent email.
 

More money in the new local budgets

Overall, both the county and the city increased funding to economic development contingency funds, incentive line items and agencies with which they contract for economic development help.

“Increased economic development efforts have resulted in improvements to our local economy through job creation, rising property values and more consumer spending,” city manager Sterling Cheatham wrote in a budget document before the Wilmington City Council approved his recommended spending plan in June. The plan for this fiscal year includes incentives to businesses in the amount of $225,000, for when or if those existing businesses, including PPD, Live Oak Bank and CastleBranch Corp., meet agreed-upon goals.

Wilmington and New Hanover County officials in July voted to award AAIPharma Services Corp. up to $500,000 in industrial investment incentives over the next five years. The approvals were based on expectations that the company follows through with plans to spend $20 million to improve and expand facilities in Wilmington and create at least 50 new jobs that pay an average of $77,000 a year. 

“It’s not just simply a corporate handout,” Zapple said. “It’s there to help them as they meet these metrics, including hiring.”

The most significant increase in funding specifically for economic development compared to previous years was the $500,000 in the county’s 2015-16 budget for what county manager Chris Coudriet called “opportunistic economic development investments.”

The figure represented a 525 percent increase over the same line item in the fiscal year 2014-15 budget, according to the county’s budget comparison report. 

In separate line items, the city and the county are contracting with Wilmington Business Development for economic development tasks, including advancing recommendations from the Garner report, for a total of nearly $279,000, a total increase of about $3,800. Pender County also contracts with WBD.

City councilwoman Laura Padgett said the city has tended to be conservative in its allocation of money specifically for economic development.

“I have always touted that the quality of life and making your community attractive in a lot of ways is the best economic development tool, but we’re in a world where incentives are virtually required to compete,” she said.

Other officials agreed that money isn’t everything, though.

“The city and county have both stepped up in recent years, but so has our private sector. The momentum has come from all three sources, and it’s not just about money. The visible, vocal leadership of local government officials and our business leaders says all the right things about where the region is heading,” Satterfield said.
 

Brunswick County reorganizes efforts

Questions about the use of public funding provided for economic development efforts led to a major shift this summer in the way Brunswick County will try to recruit new companies and support existing employers in the near future.

At the end of June, the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners voted to create a county department of economic development, and the separate entity that used to do the job with financing and support from the county was dissolved.

The change comes after questions surfaced about how the Economic Development Commission, and the county’s Economic Development Corp., have used some county funds from 2009 to 2014. In that time, the corporation spent more than $82,000 on staff bonuses, director fees, Christmas gifts and meetings, according to a county review of the corporation’s records.

In an interview this month, Ann Hardy, county manager and interim director of the county’s new economic development department, said she’s found examples of duplication that show ways to save money with the new department.

County commissioners “have not expressed any desire to reduce the effort to recruit industry … I believe the level of support will be enhanced and increased rather than diminished, and the dollar effort will remain the same or has remained the same,” Hardy said.

As of Aug. 21, the county was still searching for a new director for the department, advertising the position with a salary range of $77,500 to $124,000. The former director of the commission, Jim Bradshaw, has been acting as an adviser to the new department until his retirement Oct. 1.

As of press time, the new department had an industry networking event slated for Aug. 28 in Bolivia. 

“This breakfast will serve as the first in a series of networking opportunities to open and expand the channel of communication between industries in Brunswick County, as well as leaders, public officials, and educators. This will also give us the opportunity to learn from you as we develop our existing Industry strategy under the new county structure,” an announcement said.