If you were to walk into the county economic development agency (or any economic development agency for that matter) and tell them this story, they would be wining and dining you to get you here as fast as possible. It goes like this:
I have a company which needs to relocate. I’m going to need about 250- 260 employees to work in the non-management positions. There will be opportunities for them to move into management. I’m looking for a place I can settle down for the long term – it costs a lot to move and relocate, so I want somewhere stable, with long term growth potential.
I really only want people who want to stay for a while because it costs too much to find and train new people. What I can offer in return is these jobs can’t be outsourced to overseas because of the nature of the job. So, if you get me here, I’m here to stay and to contribute to the community.
I expect the payroll to be about $13 million a year for these people, about $50K a person. I’m well capitalized, so I can give good benefits too. Â
You will be wined, dined, and taken to Disneyland for this type of money.
However, if you’re the Board of Supervisors, you don’t see the benefit of keeping people employed. The Supes fail to realize a few basic facts of economics:
- A person with a paying job has dollars to move into the economy. A person without a paying job doesn’t have dollars for the economy.
- Local jobs generate local dollars. Employees eat lunch, live, and buy other goods in communities where they work and live. Take away those dollars, and the local restaurants and shops suffer.
- Paychecks pump dollars into the economy every pay period. Car allowances do not. Â
Supes, why don’t you want to pump paycheck dollars into the local economy?
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Updated to reflect info received on availability of county-supplied gasoline.