RICHMOND – The McDonnell administration is estimating its economic development plan will net 29,300 new jobs in the next two years and $311 million in revenue over the next five — a sixfold return on Virginia’s investment.
The figures, announced Tuesday in Richmond, are meant to give heft to new Gov. Bob McDonnell’s $50 million spending package aimed at attracting new employers and strengthening in-state industries and tourism.
“That’s roughly 6-to-1,” said Jim Cheng, McDonnell’s commerce and trade secretary. “Every one dollar we invest in these programs, we get back six. And that’s a great ratio.”
Establishing the real effect of the jobs package no doubt will be a murky venture, and largely dependent on fluctuations in the economy and the state’s ability to lure major corporations over the next few years. To arrive at the estimates, administration officials mostly relied on data from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Cheng said. He argued the figures were “conservative,” not counting — for example — the jobs created by employers expanding after they set up headquarters in Virginia. “We believe this [Virginia Economic Development Partnership] estimate is good,” McDonnell said. The Republican has assembled a bipartisan group of lawmakers to carry his jobs package in the General Assembly, including the heads of both chambers’ money committees. Among his budget amendments, McDonnell is proposing to double the Governor’s Opportunity Fund — a pool of money used to help local governments accommodate major economic development projects as well as pump money into funds that promote the tourism, wine and filmmaking industries. McDonnell is pushing 20 other bills aimed at job creation. The legislative package also would mandate at least 15 percent of state procurement contracts go to small businesses in hard-hit rural and urban regions. The governor wants to provide income tax credits for any film production company that shoots in Virginia and racks up expenses more than $250,000. Another of his bills would offer a $500 income tax credit for creating a “green job.”
