Punishing success

Editorial by Durham Herald-Sun, reprinted in Greenville Daily Reflector, March 9, 2015.

An increase sought by Gov. Pat McCrory in a state economic-development incentive is likely to incite yet more urban-envy among legislators from the state’s smaller towns and urban areas.

The divide is nothing new in the Tar Heel state, and echoes generations-long friction between eastern and western blocs seeking the upper hand in state affairs. But the gap between the fortunes of the state’s major urban centers and the rest of the state has been widening in recent years, and the two sectors have seen sharply different success in rebounding from the Great Recession.

The immediate debate, as early as this week, is likely to be over proposed changes in the state’s Job Development Investment Grant awards, which for a dozen years have helped state economic development recruiters in competing with other states for new businesses.

McCrory wants a higher cap on any incentive package. That’s likely to rankle some conservative legislators who think the incentives are poor policy generally, but the proposal is also likely to be a forum for others to explore the way those incentives have played out.

Nearly nine out of every $10 in incentives have gone to companies locating in Mecklenburg, Wake or Durham counties. That statistic was contained in a new report last week from the North Carolina Justice Center, which also noted that only 9 percent of JDIG dollars went to rural counties.

Legislators intent on stemming the flow of incentives to the major cities or diverting more dollars to rural and small-town development should be wary of wreaking havoc on the state’s overall economic health.

This may be easy to say here in the Triangle, with the Charlotte area the most economically robust in the state, but many forces are pushing in that direction that should be celebrated, not curtailed.

Cities generally are enjoying a boom period, with young professionals, entrepreneurs and creative-class types drawn to urban amenities and denser development.

To be sure, Rep. George Graham, a Lenoir Democrat, is right when he says “we can’t have two North Carolinas.” But propping up communities which grew up to support the state’s agricultural base when far more people were engaged in farming, or around industries whose heyday has passed, can be difficult.

Those communities can find new life, and deserve help from other areas of the state. But those communities, especially those surrounding the booming urban areas, will suffer if the development that is providing jobs and a broader tax base for the entire state is hampered.

Let’s hope the legislature avoids winging if not destroying our golden-egg-laying urban geese.

 http://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorials/state-editorial-punishing-success-2811223