County Economic Stress Index: Measuring local financial strain

[Hometown Democracy]

County Economic Stress Index:   Measuring financial strain....How much did the overbuilding bubble wreck your county?  Check it out at this link:    http://www.news-journalonline.com/reports/economicstress/index.html

 

Daytona Beach News-Journal Online

2/9/2011

 

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/flagler/2011/02/09/flagler-on-national-list-of-most-stressed-counties.html

 

PALM COAST -- Just a few years ago, Flagler County was at the top of the list of the nation's fastest-growing counties. Now the county has made another list, but it's one officials probably would have preferred to avoid.

 

According to the latest Associated Press Economic Stress Index report, Flagler County is the 20th most economically stressed county in the nation -- and it's the only county east of the Rocky Mountains to land on the Top 20 list.

 

The monthly index calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. Flagler County's score of 20.7 in December reflects a jobless rate of 15.7 percent, 4.14 percent of residential and commercial properties in foreclosure per 1,000 units, and bankruptcy filings of 1.86 percent over a 12-month period per individual income tax returns.

 

The average county score in December was 10.4, according to the AP index, and slightly more than 40 percent of the nation's 3,141 counties were deemed stressed.

 

Florida was one of five states that did not see any easing of economic stress in 2010, along with Colorado, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. A county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.

 

The news was no surprise to Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts.

 

"In retrospect, we should have known the growth we were experiencing was not sustainable," he said, referring to the county's housing boom. "We had all our eggs in one big basket and a lot of that basket had to do with speculation and the bottom fell out."

 

Netts said relying on a housing boom and population growth to fuel the economy has made it difficult for the county to feel much economic recovery.

 

"We puffed our chest about it and now we're suffering the consequences for it," he said.

 

Netts said the ranking also makes it clear that local economic development efforts have not been successful.

 

"What that data does is simply reinforce the need to do something differently," he said.

 

For Flagler County resident Wanda Matheny, doing something differently means going back to school.

 

Coming out of the Center for Business Excellence One-Stop Employment Center on Tuesday afternoon, Matheny said she's not surprised Flagler County ranks so high on the list of economically stressed areas.

 

"This is one of the hardest areas to find a job," she said. "Everybody's willing to accept any job just to work."

 

The economic problems in Flagler County are not lost on Phil Ehlinger, Volusia County's economic development director.

 

"We do pay attention to what's going on around us and obviously we have people who live in Flagler who commute to work in Volusia and vice-versa," he said Tuesday from his office. "So that does make a difference."

 

Ehlinger said while there are differences in their economies, both counties share a number of issues.

 

"We have certain advantages in Volusia," he said. "They're more agricultural and rural than we are so they're going to be hit in a different way than we."

 

Volusia County's December reading on the AP index was 17.17.

 

Flagler County Commission Chairman Alan Peterson said the ranking was a bit of a surprise to him.

 

"There's no question in my mind that our problem was a serious one," he said. "I guess this is a surprise that we rank as high as we do."

 

Peterson said Flagler's high ranking could be attributable to its small size.

 

"You have to remember that in a relatively small community, population-wise, that when you do have a downturn in the economy the percentage numbers can be much higher than they would be in a much larger community," he said.

 

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