Regional partnership's spending questioned

Critics raise concern about the group's finances, efforts to recruit new businesses.

By Kerry Hall Singe
ksinge@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010

Faced with a $250,000 deficit, Charlotte Regional Partnership chief Ronnie Bryant stood before his bosses last July and put his job on the line.

The economic development group, which gets half of its $3 million budget from state and local taxpayers, was seeing cuts in state and private dollars. It needed to cut more costs or raise more money. Bryant said he'd plug the hole himself. "I said it would rest on my shoulders," he recalls.

Seven months later, he tallies $204,000, or 80 percent of the goal. Filling this year's shortfall is only one of the pressures weighing on Bryant these days.

Also in July, a group of senior economic developers wrote the partnership's chairman, questioning the group's spending and heavy administration costs.

Amid falling tax revenues, the state could continue to trim funding for the group, which markets the 16-county region as a good place for business.

Local governments, which contribute more than $793,000 to the partnership, face shrinking budgets. At least one member county, York, is considering withdrawing from the group, questioning whether it's worth the $53,000 in the difficult economy.

And one business leader with first-hand knowledge said companies are having "a lot of informal conversations" about whether to stay on as paying members or whether the partnership should be restructured. More here.