Arcadia helps bolster business sentiment amid continued economic uncertainties

As local and regional economic conditions continue to play out with uncertainty, it falls upon city leadership to inject a healthy dose of optimism into the local business community.
The City of Arcadia seemed to do just that at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Power Planning Conference on Jan. 24. Hosted by Embassy Suites, the conference featured a State of the City address by City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto.
“We appreciate City Manager Lazzaretto and the City Council being open-minded and willing to respond quickly and adapt to the evolving needs and issues of local businesses,” said Arcadia Chamber of Commerce CEO Scott Hettrick.
Documenting the City Manager’s commitment to the business community on the Chamber’s website, www.ArcadiaCaChamber.org, Hettrick said that the city is doing its part to help local business remain positive during this region’s shaky recovery process.
Among the points made in Lazzaretto’s address was that the city has proposed a new business assistance program ombudsman to help entrepreneurs with the start-up process, is working with the Chamber to create a much more interactive one-stop business checklist, and has not increased the cost of a business permit.
“Since local businesses, more than 500 of which are members of the Chamber, represent such a major 25 percent of the city’s revenue, we are pleased that the city recognizes the importance of the business community,” Hettrick told this reporter.
However, despite the city’s commitment to helping the business community, Hettrick notes that the city itself is operating at a “deficit on paper of nearly $2 million,” of which the City Manager is confident will be closed in the near future.
According to Lazzaretto, about 25 percent of Arcadia’s $48 million in annual revenue is derived from local businesses – with nearly $10 million from sales taxes and another $2 million-plus from licenses and permits.
But from the $49.7 million in expenditures, police represent 35 percent of that total, fire 25 percent, and public works 8 percent. And of the $28.8 million Arcadia generates in tax revenue, 33 percent comes from sales taxes, and 33 percent from property taxes.
According to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, a similar scenario is painted for the San Gabriel Valley Region and throughout Los Angeles County, where business growth continues with much caution.
In its 2012 Third Quarter report (October through December), the LAEDC noted that more than half of the businesses surveyed expressed “some concern with upcoming tax changes, Workers Compensation, healthcare reform, and the Fiscal Cliff.”
The 2012 San Gabriel Valley Economic Forecast and Regional Overview, prepared by the Kyser Center for Economic Research for the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership reveals how the valley’s economic recovery depends on, for the most part, on the performance of the nation’s overall economy.
Summarizing the economic outlook over the forecast period of 2012 and 2013, the report revealed that “Solid gains in 2010 and 2011 should give way to more modest increases in the next two years, but it will be at least 2015 before taxable retail sales will once again eclipse the $16 billion threshold (from 2006 sales).”
The report also noted that “All in all, the San Gabriel Valley regional economy will continue on the track of slow growth and recovery in 2012 and 2013. This is a conservative outlook, and the economic trajectory for the region will depend largely on the performance of the overall national economy.”
According to economics writer Christopher S. Rugaber of the Associated Press, the overall national outlook is less than rosy. The Commerce Department reported on Jan. 30 that the U.S. economy actually shrank unexpectedly late last year.
A slash in defense spending, along with companies restocking at a slower rate, pushed the economy into negative territory for the first time since mid-2009. The contraction in the October-December quarter came in at an annual rate of 0.1 percent, according to the Commerce Department.
Though, for all of 2012, the economy expanded 2.2 percent, better than 2011’s growth of 1.8 percent.
However, both businesses and consumers know the road to growth and prosperity is easier to preach than reach, especially as the nation braces itself to face sharp government spending cuts and exhaustive political budget fights in 2013.

-Story by Jim E. Winburn

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