Counties Partner with REMCs on Cost of Living Index Reports
Rural Electric-Served Areas Provide Data to Show Low Cost of Doing Business, Living in Their Communities
Companies want to find ways to lower the cost of doing business, and two Indiana communities have now documented exactly how affordable business costs can be in their localities. This year, both Morgan and Clark Counties in Indiana took on the challenge of gathering data in time to achieve their first-ever inclusions in the national Cost of Living Index (COLI) report, an independent national yardstick that measures the cost of doing business and living in over 300 communities across the US. While taking on this daunting task, both development organizations found their local REMCs to be valuable partners.
Joy Sessing, Executive Director of the Morgan County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), and Matt Hall, Vice President and Interim CEO of Economic Development for One Southern Indiana, both identified similar frustrations as the overriding reason to distinguish their territories through inclusion in the COLI. "Without a separate study, most businesses interested in expansion sites (in Morgan County) simply pulled the Metro Indianapolis report to learn about us," said Sessing. Hall agreed. "We knew the cost of living in our county was lower (than neighboring Louisville, KY), but to prove it, we needed to formally document those figures."
Sessing says the decision to participate in the COLI stemmed from part of an overall strategy for the county, and aligned with several projects already in the works. These projects began with an overall Morgan County economic development plan drafted two years ago, still on schedule to prepare several shovel-ready sites in the next couple of years. "Collecting our COLI information at the beginning of 2012 fell in line with the plan," said Sessing.
Sessing was pleased with the first-quarter results. "If you compare us to neighboring Indianapolis, our composite index is lower." In a report that compares all areas against the national average for a variety of functional indices, the Morgan County housing index ranked 68.5% of the national average, significantly lower than Indianapolis at 83.5%. In transportation, Morgan’s index ranked 87.1% to Indy's 94.9%, with an overall ranking of 88.4% to Indy's 93.7%.
Local Electric Cooperatives Provide Assistance
To help with the COLI research, the South Central Indiana (SCI) REMC approved a grant for the MCEDC which Sessing says covered "the data gathering process" with plenty left over to cover similar expenses going forward.
Sessing says the information will prove a valuable tool. "If your cost of living is low, the cost of doing business will also be low, and now we'll have the numbers to prove it."
Meanwhile, Matt Hall's experiences for One Southern Indiana, which includes both Clark and Floyd Counties, were similar to Sessing's in several respects. "We were aware of the COLI tool for several years, but it was important that we break down our numbers, not only compared to other metropolitan areas, but between metropolitan areas within our internal territories. We're on the edge of really great things--we have River Ridge Commerce Center, 6,000 acres ready to be developed. We just announced Amazon's intent to develop there." Hall also cites transportation improvements, with a new east end bridge on the Ohio River connecting Interstate 265 in Indiana with I-265 in Kentucky, which have never been connected in over 40 years, plus a new downtown bridge and the reworking of 'spaghetti junction.'
Hall recalled, "The Clark County REMC made the introduction for us to CCER in Virginia to get us started quickly. They also briefed us on what we could expect and how to best prepare to gather the data, so there were no surprises."
One Southern Indiana tasked an existing staff person to collect the information needed for the report. "Ideally, we'd like to update our stats every quarter, but as it stands, we're probably starting off at twice a year."
Hall says the numbers confirm what he suspected. "Southern Indiana is a very affordable place to live, even in the metro areas compared to other metros. I find it interesting but confirming that Southern Indiana’s overall Composite Index is 87.4%, slightly lower than the Louisville MSA. Louisville metro is a “good buy”....and southern Indiana is not only reflective of that, but, overall, rated slightly better."
Hall concluded, "The Clark County REMC is a true economic development partner and pioneer. Without it, we wouldn't have the success we have here."
The COLI published by the CCER correlates data on 306 participating communities throughout the United States. Learn more at http://www.c2er.org/ Learn more about One Southern Indiana at http://www.1si.org/ and the Morgan County Economic Development Corporation at http://www.morgancoed.com/