Wichita economic group: Lack of incentives hobbled efforts to increase job totals

Local economic development officials said they helped create 1,500 jobs in the past two years – but missed out on twice that many.

The lack of sufficient local incentives is one of the single, biggest reasons for those misses, they said.

That was one of the big messages at the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition’s annual meeting Friday, where it reported annual results. The public-private coalition is the main economic development organization for Wichita and Sedgwick County.

For 2014, the organization reported that it helped six companies expand, resulting in 424 new jobs and $69.4 million in capital investment.

The 2014 projects were for TCRS, LLC; APEX Engineering International; Reiloy Westland Corp.; FedEx Ground Package System; C.E. Machine; and Etezazi Industries.

But last year’s totals are an unusually weak result, leaving the organization behind in its attempt to hit its five-year target of 7,500 new and retained jobs, and $375 million in investment.

GWEDC president Tim Chase and board chairman Gary Schmitt told the business executives who pay to support the group that it, and the community, have made changes that promise to improve that performance in the coming years.

Chase said GWEDC staff will now spend half of its time and money assisting existing companies, whereas it used to spend 80 percent of its time and money recruiting new companies. After making more than 200 visits to local companies, he said they are operating at a much higher level than even a year ago, and will soon be seeking to expand or move.

And big progress has been made in developing industrial parks and having available space. There is now 950,000 square feet of vacant building space in the region, plus 600 acres in the Skyway AeroPark near Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, and 880 acres in the Sunflower Commerce Park in Bel Aire.

But the lack of a large incentive fund, such as the one included in the sales tax proposal defeated in November, has handicapped Wichita in landing more jobs, Chase and Schmitt said.

They said the organization was among the finalists for five more projects, with 3,000 jobs, in the past two years. They were told on three of the five misses that the single biggest factor in steering the project to another city was the amount of incentives GWEDC offered.

Schmitt, executive vice president of Intrust Bank and chairman of the GWEDC board, compared Wichita’s economic development offering – its workforce, its available buildings and industrial sites, its location and its quality of life – to a nice cake. Incentives are the frosting.

Wichita and Sedgwick County do offer incentives, on top of ones offered by the state of Kansas, but the amounts available just don’t compare with some cities and states, he said.

“We have a nice cake, but not a lot of frosting,” Schmitt said.

Three of the five Sedgwick County Commissioners said Friday that they remain skeptical about the claim that a huge pool of cash incentives is needed to win more jobs.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn said he has voted for incentives in the past, but that driving down taxes and regulations are more important. He said the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce leaders made their argument for a fund during the November sales tax election and lost.

Sedgwick County commissioners Jim Howell and Richard Ranzau said they don’t oppose incentives in principle, but must be persuaded they are needed.

“I have a hard time believing that is the biggest factor driving these big decisions,” Howell said. “There are so many other factors being considered.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Wichita economic group: Lack of incentives hobbled efforts to increase job totals."