As state legislators return to work April 1 after spring break, a new job creation plan proposed by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland will likely be among the first issues debated.
Mark Shanahan, Governor Ted Strickland's energy adviser, presented the governor's "Building Ohio Jobs" plan in Monroe, Ohio March 29-explaining how the $1.7 billion plan will bring 80,000 jobs to Ohio as well make the state economically competitive.
At this point, there seems to be support for the plan among some members of the community and industry in southwest Ohio. Lauren Goode, communications director for the Building Ohio Jobs Coalition said that Monroe and surrounding areas in southwest Ohio will benefit from the plan, since the district has seen recent economic growth-such as the March opening of IKEA in West Chester.
"Southwest Ohio stands to benefit greatly from this proposal," Goode said. "There is a lot of growth, particularly in Butler County ... There is an opportunity to build up the county infrastructure. That will benefit the people who live here currently, the businesses here and then any business that we are able to attract to this area."
The plan will invest $700 million in specific industry sectors, specifically $250 million in advanced energy, $100 million in bio-products, $200 million in biomedical energy and $150 million in logistics and distribution infrastructure. The plan will also invest $1 billion in infrastructure, $400 million in both the Clean Ohio Fund and Public Works Commission and $200 million in the Main Street Renewal Project.
According to Goode, the Main Street Renewal Project focuses on the preservation of Ohio's unique main street areas.
"There are a lot of opportunities for communities to dress-up their downtown, which will help attract businesses and keep people downtown," Goode said.
Areas in Southwest Ohio that are close to transportation opportunities, such as highways, are also being looked at for industry investment.
"We will help companies have a seamless flow of their products from air to rail to water to roads," Goode said. "It's communities like Monroe and surrounding areas that will benefit form that. We will be helping build the infrastructure like water and sewer as well as working on the interchanges for transportation."
The investments in these specific sectors and construction projects will then hopefully increase the demand for jobs in these sectors, Goode said.
"We estimate that we will create 49,000 jobs in construction industry and 35,000 targeted industry sector," Goode said.
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Goode said there are many things in the economy that are out of the state's control, but that it is the state's duty to do what it can for their citizens by preparing them for the workforce and getting the public infrastructure in place to create jobs for the future.
Goode said Strickland's plan hopes to keep Ohio an attractive place to live and work, despite the current national economic situation.
"When people look at where they want to build their businesses, they want to look at work-life balance and Ohio is that place, (particularly) with a short commute to work, access to art and culture and a quick trip for a plan ride to anywhere in the U.S." Goode said.
In order to fund the plan, Strickland is proposing to use $1.7 billion in bond funding, with $1.5 billion of general obligation bonds sold on Wall Street, with the remaining $200 million from liquor profit back bonds, Goode said.
"Our constitution allows us to sell these bonds," Goode said. "There are a lot of markets for state-backed bonds and they are based on Ohio's good credit rating. They usually go pretty fast."
According to Amanda Wurst, the deputy director of communications for Strickland, the goal of marketing the bonds is to get the lowest possible cost for borrowing, and due to Ohio's strong bond rating, mix of retail and industrial investors and a large selling group composed of both Ohio and national investment bankers they will be able to offer this low borrowing cost.
The funds will be distributed through programs already in place and for those without programs set up, county officials will work with legislature to set up a way to distribute the money throughout regions of Ohio, Wurst said.
The plan will be up for election Nov. 4, but until then Strickland's advisers, such as Shanahan, are trying to inform the citizens of the plan.
"Right now we have people like Shanahan letting people know the economics of this bond package and make sure people throughout Ohio understand what the bond package will mean, and the potential for future economic prosperity of our state,"Wurst said.
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