The Importance of Preserving Economic Development in the Upcoming Budget Cycle

Our region and state are facing the toughest economic climate in decades. Here at Wayne County, we are doing everything we can to provide a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens while working tirelessly to attract and create new jobs for our residents. Through innovative programs and aggressive business attraction efforts, we have been successful in keeping our economy afloat, even as we operate with a smaller budget than we had the year before. I am proud of the employees of Wayne County and our elected officials for their commitment to our citizens during these challenging economic times.

We are doing everything in our control to reduce spending while continuing to provide the same level of service to our residents. Unfortunately, there are some areas within the county budget that are beyond the control of my administration, particularly the 3^rd Circuit Court. The circuit courts are state courts, and under a law passed toward the end of the Engler administration, counties must bear the financial burden of operating these courts. Unlike most other departments and elected areas that understand the need to reduce spending to balance the budget, the 3^rd Circuit Court has instead requested a budget increase of 33% for the upcoming fiscal year.

We simply cannot allow the 3^rd Circuit Court to drain resources away from other crucial county departments, particularly economic development, which has demonstrated a clear return on investment. Despite having only a few dozen employees and making up only a very small fraction of Wayne County’s overall budget $3 million, our Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) has been successful at bringing in close to $2 billion dollars in investment over the past year, and helped to create thousands of jobs for our residents. Programs like economic development are crucial to empowering our citizens, building a tax base and, in turn, stabilizing the county’s budget. And we know that when people are employed, they are less likely to resort to crime and end up in the court system.

We all have experienced the economic downturn through friends and family members who lost jobs, those who lost their home to foreclosure, or those that got sick because they couldn’t afford health coverage. We have all been forced to downsize in one way or another, and my administration understands fully that government must find ways to sacrifice to ensure fiscal stability.

Yet it is important that we continue to invest in job creation because it is through new jobs that people will stay in our county, purchase homes, and revive our tax base. I am proud of Turkia Awada Mullin, EDGE’s Chief Development Officer, for her dedication to our county and for holding her staff to account when it comes to delivering results. I am also proud of the partnerships that EDGE has formed with the nonprofit community to leverage public and private funds to maximize the economic impact of development projects. The groundwork laid by the EDGE Team over the past year and a half has paid dividends to our citizens in the form of jobs, and will continue to pay dividends as we emerge from this economic recession.

Robert A. Ficano is the Wayne County Executive