Wooster, Wayne County buck trends

WOOSTER — Bill Clinton paved his way to the White House with the mantra, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and about 25 years later, “It’s still the economy, stupid.”

The economy has been the most discussed topic for years now, and it certainly was a focus in the previous presidential election cycle.

Locally, the economy in Wooster and Wayne County the economy continued to chug along, bucking state and national trends with “Now Hiring” signs in windows and equipment turning dirt.

In Wooster and Wayne County, by many metrics, economic activity is up. It can be seen in multi-million-dollar expansion projects, including the J.M. Smucker Co., Schaeffler (formerly LuK USA) and Daisy Brand, to smaller projects, like the Cobblestone Hotel being built in Orrville.

Normally, the Wayne Economic Development Council would not get involved in something like a hotel, but it was something the community needed to complement its economic development efforts.

The diversity of the projects, in terms of investment, number of jobs and locations, has really stood out, said Shawn Starlin, a project manager with WEDC. The total number of 2016 projects reported or started in Wayne County in which companies listed employment figures show more than 900 jobs being created.

“There’s no way we could ever predict that many,” WEDC President Rod Crider said. “But, it seems every year there are two or three big projects” that push the jobs created even higher.

Wooster’s building division permitted projects exceeding $100 million in 2016, vastly outpacing the previous high in 2005 at $82 million worth of projects.

Top projects which broke ground in the city last year ranged from The College of Wooster’s new science building (an estimated $40 million project) to the auto industry with another $9 million project underway at Schaeffler.

But the health care industry also continued to grow in the city with the Wooster Community Hospital’s new cancer center breaking ground, and nursing homes at Danbury Woods and the Progressive Care Center (on Smithville Western Road) moving dirt.

The continued trend of northbound growth even prompted the city to start on its new Safety Service Center building on Burbank Road.

“The last two years saw more permits issued (approximately 1,500) in the city of Wooster than at any other time,” Wooster Chief Building Official Tim Monea added. And 2016 was no different with 1,562 permits issued out of City Hall for various projects.

Agriculture is an important component of Wayne County’s economy, and during the recession, it helped to prop up the local economy. However, since milk prices reached a peak in 2014 with $24 per hundredweight, life has been tough for dairy farmers.

Some farmers took out some of the equity, others wanted to, but were hampered with personal health care issues.

There was some crazy weather in 2016, as some farms to the north appeared to be fine, while others to the south had drought-like conditions. Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht, who operates a dairy farm in the Funk area with her husband, Jim, said they normally have grain to sell, but had to buy grain last year.

In Wooster, bed tax revenues generated by the city’s tax on hotel rooms is not only up, but setting records.

Andrei Dordea, finance director for the city, said that through November (year-end figures were not yet available) the city had received a shade over $260,000 in bed tax dollars, trending ahead of the same period the prior year at $253,000. He estimated that figure to round out 2016 at $275,000, which would be a record year for hotel stays in the city.

In the previous year, bed tax revenues had already set a record at $269,000.

The dollars generated through the “transient occupancy tax” has been a marker for economic development groups in the county’s largest city.

One of the city’s hotels — the St. Paul Hotel, located on South Market Street — had experienced such enormous growth that it plans to expand its footprint at the building, albeit to a less grandiose scale than presented to city leaders.

Dordea added that income tax receipts — collected from workers inside the city, as well as businesses — last year ticked up 9.4 percent.

Income tax dollars continue to make up a larger portion of the city’s general fund, with approximately $17.7 million coming in 2016, compared to $16.2 million the year before.

In Wooster, the economy is chugging along at such a positive pace that the dialogue from local officials has shifted surrounding current issues.

Businesses great hurdle is finding enough qualified workers, others are in need of additional space to house their products. And others merely can’t find enough land to develop new homes or expand to the city, as companies like Meijer have insisted.

Monea noted that in 2016 the city also saw record numbers when it came to building construction.

When looking at sheer estimates for those values, as well as permits, activity was up.

“This (2016) has been a good year,” Starlin said.

CREDIT: STEVEN F HUSZAI ; BOBBY WARREN