After serving nine months in office, Gov. Jack Markell said Delaware should take advantage of its small size to cut through red tape to bring businesses and jobs. He also said residents and business owners should contact his office with suggestions to make doing business easier. “My request for help is not just rhetoric,” said Markell, as he addressed members of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Markell said his greatest challenge has been working with the General Assembly to close an $800 million budget shortfall in June. Despite painful cuts and sacrifices, he said residents should be relieved that officials closed Delaware’s record shortfall, as other states still struggle to pass overdue budgets.
Markell said the overarching message he hears is that business owners want predictability – from tax incentives to state-agency approvals. “It also means understanding people have choices of where businesses will be located,” he said.
Maryland and Pennsylvania have the ability to write bigger checks to beckon businesses, he said. “We’ve got to win a bigger battle,” said Markell, who also said Delaware needs to be fast, responsive and nimble to attract new businesses.
He discussed the Limited Investment for Financial Traction (LIFT) for small businesses – a program his administration founded that uses $5 million from the state’s Strategic Fund to subsidize interest on small-business loans.
Businesses that receive LIFT subsidies repay the money after two years. He said 26 companies are participating in the state-loan program, working through seven banks.
In Seaford, Advanced Aerosol, which was a booming industry in the 1990s, received a $1.2 million loan to buy new equipment – an investment that created 10 new jobs, he said.
“Other states don’t want to talk unless you bring 250 jobs,” he said. Still, a handful of jobs in a small state like Delaware is significant, he said.
Tourism is key
Cutting government – and its spending – is another priority, said Markell. He said the state cut 485 positions this year, and next year 525 jobs will likely go unfilled. Fewer state employees also means less office space and, today, department heads are re-negotiating office-leasing agreements to further reduce costs.
Still, as officials latched on to increasing Delaware’s strength as a tourist destination – significant to 90 audience members whose businesses rely on out-of-state visitors – the Delaware Economic Development Office increased its tourism department from one to seven employees.
“I can tell you there are not many departments of government that are growing,” he said.
“There’s a lot of conversation of having to do more with less. Frankly, there’s going to be doing less with less,” he said. “In the end we all want the same thing – a great economy.”
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