Orangeburg's fortunes on a heady upswing

Monday, 01 October 2007

Page 2 of 2 Other large employers include Koyo Corp., which manufactures ball bearings and employs 530; Sara Lee Bakery employing 536; North American Container Corp., which employs 400 people in the manufacture of bulk shipping containers; and Zeus Industrial Products, makers of teflon tubing and employing 450. Over the past five years, Orangeburg County has had more than 170 expansions or new industry locations. During that five-year period, those companies invested more than $625 million and created nearly 3,400 jobs. Orangeburg County has used several economic development tools to foster the development of an industrial development in the area its dubbed the Global Logistics Triangle, a 5,000-acre area bordered by Interstate 95, Interstate 26 and S.C. Highway 301, Robinson said. These include being a conduit for the state's performance-based incentives, including job tax credits, job development credits, property tax exemptions and sales tax exemptions. Orangeburg County is able to "maximize" these incentives due to its designation as a "least developed" county. In addition, the county offers a five-year abatement program through which it abates its portion of the millage rate for the first five years of an investment by a qualifying company, and offers company's fee-in-lieu of property tax agreements that further lower the cost of moving to Orangeburg County. Through participation in fee-in-lieu of taxes agreements, companies can lower their assessment rate and lock in the millage rate they're subject to for as long as 20 years. "It's all about adding value to what we have to offer," Robinson said. "And by clustering industrial zones, we can apply for free trade zone status and offer potential buyers or tenants in the area the advantage of deferral of duties and other tax savings." While the impetus behind all these efforts is to create jobs for a chronically under-employed local community, the impact of creation of large-scale logistics parks in the triangle extends far beyond Orangeburg, Robinson said. "The whole idea is to bring in companies that will hire locally and most do, but given our size, we're 130 miles wide, and location, we physically border nine other counties and have what we consider four different labor sheds," he said. "We have people, basically, traveling in four specific directions for employment. "Now, imagine if we can crate opportunity within our own borders, and imagine if our best skill sets don't have to leave the county everyday for employment. That's a tremendous inducement to get something like these business parks done," Robinson said. "At the same time, if you can provide a person with a job five miles from their home rather than 50 miles, even if their salary is the same, the savings you're providing them gives them more discretionary funds to spend in the local economy." << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>