Constituents in my district have always said that their
biggest concerns are jobs and the economy. For five years I have served on the Board of
the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council (EDC.) I am excited to say that we are
now on the verge of some great opportunities. Recently, we submitted a countywide
application for the California Enterprise Zone Program. The application included every
city in the county, as well as commercially zoned parts of unincorporated areas such as
Happy Camp. Such a large scale geographic proposal was previously unheard of, however,
because every area of the county qualified as disadvantaged, a team effort was made to
expand from the expiring Shasta Valley Zone to include the entire county.
Enterprise
Zones (EZs) provide state and local incentives to promote business investment and job
creation. The designation will last for 15 years and provide businesses located in the EZ
with such benefits as: $37,440 or more in state tax credits for each qualified employee
hired; corporate sales tax credits on purchases of $20 million per year of qualified
machinery and machinery parts; up-front expensing of certain depreciable property; the
ability to apply unused tax credits to future tax years, stretching out the benefit of the
initial investment; the ability to earn preference points on state contracts; up to 100%
Net Operating Loss (NOL) carry-forward. (NOL may be carried forward 15 years.) In
addition, lenders to Zone businesses may receive a net interest deduction.
Now is the time for the people of Siskiyou County to get onboard a
unified push to diversify and stimulate our economy, to create jobs for our people and to
become more business friendly. Siskiyou County has stepped forward under its new Public
Health and Community Development Department to consolidate permit services under one
director. A one stop permit center is under development oriented toward customer
convenience and service.
People are our biggest asset. CalEd has an Economic Development
Leadership Forum. Perhaps it is a good time to train our local leaders to become more
business savvy. http://www.caled.org Our local schools could also
take the opportunity to emphasize business 101 in our schools. JEDI (Jefferson Economic
Development Institute) has a number of classes and programs for entrepreneurs and
start-ups. http://www.e-jedi.org/programs.html
Check out the College of the Siskiyous Course Catalogue for classes at http://www.siskiyous.edu/ There are several
certificates in skill specialties offered. Workforce Connection also provides services for
job seekers and employers http://www.siskiyouwc.org/home.html
Also, sometimes there are various offerings on customer service geared toward the tourism
industry.
At the same time, communities must examine the cost to the well-being
of its families that comes from NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) opposition to business and
come to some agreement about their futures. Essential services cannot be sustained without
a viable economy and the state is quick to target rural areas for program cuts. Economic
stressors increase substance abuse, domestic violence and child abuse. With Ford Family
Foundation and Leadership Siskiyou trained community members, the opportunity is ripe to
move forward to claim a healthy economy at the grass roots level.
The Siskiyou County EDC has a wonderful new search engine for
locating commercial and industrial properties for development. http://www.siskiyoucounty.org/gis.aspx
The EDC, located in Yreka, has business incubator facilities and support services. In
addition, the Pacific West Food Works facilities include a large shared-use commercial
kitchen and support services for entrepreneurs with dreams of a business in the gourmet or
food products market. http://www.pacificwestfoodworks.com/
Part of attracting and retaining businesses to the county is
developing the capacity of the infrastructure to accommodate them. This includes such
things as water supply, sewer and wastewater treatment, storm drainage, electricity,
gas/propane, streets, lighting and transportation. Several studies have been done of
water/sewer capacity. Assessment of these needs is taking shape and there are efforts to
make a concerted effort to aggressively pursue available grant opportunities to improve
capacity.
Unfortunately, at the same time, the County is faced
with efforts to undermine its assets. Loss of the federal Secure Schools and Communities
Self Determination Act funds that replaced lost timber receipts, (due to a decrease in
timber harvesting on federal lands,) has taken away $4.5 million in county road
maintenance funding. Now, the threatened loss of rail service to the County could remove a
cost effective mode of transportation for future and existing businesses such as Timber
Products, Roseburg Forest Products and Crystal Geyser. At the same time, the astronomical
cost of hydropower dam removal on the Klamath or the artificially inflated requirements to
keep the dams in operation will fall directly on the shoulders of the few California and Southern
Oregon rate payers. Relatively inexpensive commercial electricity – once considered
an asset to businesses in Siskiyou County, could become an expensive liability if FERC
relicensing requirements continue to proceed in the direction many, including the state
and federal agencies, are pushing for.
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