4.30.10
City, Columbus 2020 team up for job creation
By: Kevin Kemper - www.columbus.bizjournals.com
Columbus is getting behind a plan that would consolidate regional economic-development initiatives in a public-private partnership.

At a roundtable discussion scheduled for April 29, city officials were expected to present a plan that aligns the city’s economic-development strategy with Columbus 2020, a new regional development organization.

Under the plan, previewed for Columbus Business First by Columbus City Councilman Andrew Ginther, the Columbus Development Department would receive increased funding while partnering with Columbus 2020 to attract new employers to the region.

“What’s key to us is coordination,” said Ginther, chairman of council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee. “Columbus 2020 is, I think, one of first times the region has worked together in a coordinated and cooperative way for business expansion and attraction.”

The Columbus Partnership, an organization of 35 of the region’s CEOs and executives, formed Columbus 2020 in January. The fledgling group’s mission is helping the region become a top 10 economic-development community that creates 180,000 jobs and increases per capita income by 40 percent within the next 10 years.

Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer said the organization would act as a coordinator and clearinghouse for regional economic-development efforts. It also would promote business creation by leveraging the region’s research assets and entrepreneurs.

“Columbus 2020 is first and foremost an integrated strategy,” he said. Spend more to get more Columbus’ Development Department has been trying to do everything on its own with limited resources, Ginther said. While city development officials have done yeoman’s work, Ginther said, a collaboration with Columbus 2020 should make the city and region more competitive.

The first step is implementing a development strategy, Ginther said, which calls for the Development Department to spend $400,000 to market Columbus as a premier business center. The city has a goal of 5,150 new jobs annually that would increase income tax revenue by a projected $1.2 million a year.

Ginther said the city promised to focus on job creation when voters approved a 25 percent income tax increase. “Our quality of life is not sustainable in Columbus unless we get more people working and more people ... in higher-paying jobs.”

Working with a public-private partnership like Columbus 2020 also should increase overall spending in the region on economic development, Ginther said.

Cities such as Houston, Denver and Nashville, Tenn., have public and private sector spending levels that range between $5 million and $15 million annually, according to Columbus research, while the Columbus region’s annual spending historically has been about $2.3 million.

Columbus 2020 wants to raise between $25 million and $30 million from the public and private sectors, Fischer said, which would cover regional development efforts for a five- to six-year period.

“We’re on track to raise $2.6 million for 2010,” Fischer said.

Ginther said city officials have not decided how much Columbus will contribute.

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