Fifty years ago in a college biology class, we studied the Nitrogen Cycle — fertilize the ground, plant the seeds, grow the crop, re-fertilize the ground — a cycle with each step absolutely essential to the growing process.

Unfortunately, City Manager Steve Garman and the City of Decatur staff have not only ignored, but have cut off the leg of a key element to local economic development. (“Can You Say Economic Development?” April/May 2005.)

“It is not the job that is of value, but the newly enjoyed disposable income which is a product of the job,” says Garman.

Let’s review the process involved with cycling money through a local economy using a small business as our module. Thirty employees generate an annual income of $1 million, 98 percent of which is spent locally. The employer and his employees typically own houses and pay property taxes. The $1 million brings $20,000 in local sales tax annually. The business pays property tax and a major portion of their raw material is purchased locally. From the payroll comes money for fuel taxes, cigarette and liquor taxes, restaurant taxes, utility taxes, bureaucratic fees on building improvements, and registering documents. Next, remove state and federal taxes — some of which comes back to the community. Every employee pays tax, knowingly or unknowingly. Cumalative taxes pour into city hall with sales tax being the tail of the dog. Finally, the employee is free to dispose of his/her income — all of which came from a JOB.

The National Chamber of Commerce says one job supports six people. Add family members, clergy, the gas station employee, and the waitress, stockbroker, banker, and hospital worker — whomever you decide to figure into the quotient. The employee works, spends his or her paycheck, and proceeds to drive the local economy. It’s the job that generates quality of life, not city government.

“Gone are the days when patching streets and seeing garbage hauled away is enough. Today’s city government is about improving quality of life,” says Garman.

The car you drive, house you live in, clothing you wear, movies you see, and trips you take are not provided by the city, but by the sweat of the wage earner’s brow.

“Community wealth leads to demand, which leads to supply, to new investment, new employment opportunities, which incrementally increases wealth,” says Garman.

Wrong! Jobs create demand, as income is always spent or invested.

In the United States, jobs are a disappearing commodity — and China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Malaysia are just several countries enjoying the benefit of their export. Reality dictates that paid city officials react proactively to job loss.

Garman claims, “It is not the job that is of value.”

Excuse me? Shouldn’t real job retention and replacement, rather than retail job creation, be Decatur’s top priority? Should our city government help create jobs? A “real” job offers full time employment, with hospitalization, pension, retirement benefits, and overtime. Over the past twenty years, my experience with home centers in twelve states saw 60 employees per site — with an average of only seven full time employees. Aren’t restaurants and department stores based on the same premise?

The City of Decatur currently offers few incentives to potential employers who do not produce sales tax and whose payroll does not include part-time employees. Investment by city government can be speculative, but it is investment that must be considered in the same light as insurance. Who will replace the 300 jobs lost when Intermet closes in December? Rather than allowing an attitude limited to the pursuit of today’s sales tax dollars — prompting city staff to prioritize 10,000 cups of Starbuck’s coffee — shouldn’t there be a definitive policy that drives city staff to contact the Firestones of our world?

Wouldn’t it have been appropriate for city staff to tell Firestone that Decatur wanted a “last look” at purchasing that property? Wouldn’t a proactive, reality-based city manager bring potential local investors together who might consider assembling a 40% city owned, 60% private consortium to purchase the Firestone facility? A thousand jobs might be generated to replace the thousands we lost. Property taxes might have to be forgiven until municipal bonds replaced or repaired existing buildings.

Then, more forgiveness might have to occur to condoize the 2,297,975 square feet on 153 acres. You want 40,000 square feet, Mr. Employer? We’ll rent it to you or sell it to you. We’ll hold off property taxes for five years, and provide State of Illinois money to train your employees. We’ll provide you with the highest base of available skilled workers in the country. We like the $30 million in payroll dollars, hundreds of children to fill our schools, and the ancillary jobs your type of economic development produces. Is control of the Firestone site speculation — or is it investment?

There is an owner/speculator in the Firestone building right now who is producing no jobs, has no long-term pro-Decatur interest, and no viable plan in place. Our city manager should be worried about deja vu. Are we giving birth to another Forsyth? Only this time, it’s not the loss of retail business — it’s assisting in the death of Decatur industry by doing nothing to replace lost jobs. Quincy has a private investor/city and state owned industrial park with speculative job centers on site. An enthusiastic group of local investors purchased an empty 575,000-square-foot Quebecor building and grounds in Effingham, and their city fathers have promised written assistance in filling that building with employees and product.

Garman says, “I define economic development as efforts that result in increasing the per capita income of a target area population.”

When we tell our children to get a job, aren’t we asking them to start the economic cycle that produces increased per capita income and wealth?

Why is a real job not important?

A longtime Decatur businessman, Thomas Cooley has been involved with income property management and land development in cities throughout Central Illinois.