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The State of the Art for Business
Hint: It isn't Connecticut. Not
even close
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Business New Haven
6/4/1995
By: BNH
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And the winner in the best-state-to-relocate-a-business sweepstakes is (drum roll, please):
Ohio.
That's right. According to the latest annual survey of new and expanded corporate facilities in the U.S. by Site Selection magazine, the business mecca of the mid-'90s isn't the Sun Belt - it's the Rust Belt.
The Buckeye State walked off with top honors for the second year in a row with 911 new or expanded factories, offices, distribution centers and other facilities in 1994. That's miles ahead of second-place North Carolina (539 new units) and Texas (505). Florida (265), Wisconsin (223) and Tennessee (221) followed.
In contrast, the whole of New England recorded only 64 new sites, with Connecticut host to a measly 11 new facilities. That's still ahead of Vermont and, suprisingly, Massachusetts (eight each) as well as tiny Rhode Island (four), but trails both Maine (17 new facilities) and New Hampshire (16).
What makes business expansion so vigorous in the state that's round on the outside and “hi” in the middle? For one thing, older facilities in the Midwest have tended to add capacity to exiting installations rather than erect new ones. For example, the nation's leader in new jobs per million of population was indeed North Carolina, with 12,272, compared to Ohio's 8,309.
A larger factor, however, is the state's business-friendly environment. Site Selection quotes corporate-location specialist Dennis
Donovan: “Ohio's made major progress in revamping the business climate, from streamlining permitting to making the tax laws more equitable. Their governor [George V. Voinovich] has been pursuing a broad strategy of business-climate improvements for the past few years. And they've made big investments in infrastructure.”
Can Connecticut improve its performance? Rollbacks in personal
property taxes and workers compensation rates are an encouraging sign. But utility costs and medical insurance rates remain out of line. Seems Nutmeggers have some miles to go before they can begin to compete for business with their brethren states to the west and south.
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