Penny called ‘powerful tool’ for drawing jobs

“If we can make Orangeburg County into a more desirable place to live, more companies will want to come here,” he said.

Middleton said “the penny” has helped improve the community by leading to new retail development, housing and increased amenities for people all ages.

“It is almost painless to the citizens but is powerful for the county,” Middleton said.

On Nov. 8, Orangeburg County voters will be asked if they want to renew the capital projects sales tax for a fourth time to fund a variety of building projects. County leaders believe that over the next seven years, the tax will raise $74.3 million for 122 projects.

Since it was first approved 18 years ago, the tax has contributed to the development of the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park on U.S. 301 near Interstate 26, the John W. Matthews Jr. Industrial Park on U.S. 301 near U.S. 176, the 75,000-square-foot speculative building at the Matthews park and the 16,000-square-foot building in the Jafza Magna Park in Santee.

The penny has also been applied to the upgrade of the U.S. 301 and Interstate 95 interchange and the start of the western Orangeburg County Industrial Park in Neeses. It has helped create the International Industrial Park near I-26 behind Zeus Industries.

“Every park has benefited in some way, shape or form from the penny,” Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said.

For example, the penny helped pay for water and wastewater service at the Matthews park. The land was previously a cow pasture.

“The spec building would not be there and the Sigmatex building would not be there,” without the tax, he said. Sigmatex is a British-based company specializing in the manufacture of carbon-fiber textiles.

The Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park was built before the tax. However, it has benefited from the penny through the addition of a perimeter road. The tax provided a match for South Carolina Department of Commerce grants for the road.

The penny also allowed for park sign improvements and construction leading to the eventual arrival of British-based GKN Aerospace, which manufactures Boeing lipskins and Honda jet fuselages.

Robinson said Allied Air, Monteferro, IPS Packaging and Quality Model-South Carolina all would not be at the park if not for the penny.

The penny’s impact may still not yet be fully realized, Robinson said.

He gives the example of the Mount Holly Industrial Park in Berkeley County.

Today, Google has an operation in the park.

“It is one of the largest data centers in the Southeast,” Robinson said. “Google did not exist when they built the park. We are building parks for companies that may not exist.”

Robinson said GKN was not making lipskins for Boeing when the park was built.

“They are now,” he said. “We have to be proactive and we have to answer the call of business.”

The land for the International Industrial Park and the western Orangeburg County Industrial Park were both purchased and developed with the penny, Robinson said.

He estimates that since 1998, about $1 billion in investment and at least 2,500 jobs can be attributed to the penny.

“It is so hard to put a tangible number on it” Robinson said, explaining that each company resulted in additional related jobs and service jobs.

Voters first approved the 1 percent capital projects sales tax in 1998.

In the first penny, $4 million was set aside for economic development infrastructure for interstate corridors.

In the second penny, about $7 million was set aside for water and wastewater infrastructure in the U.S. 301/I-26/I-95 area, which has been trademarked by the county as the Global Logistics Triangle.

About $2 million was set aside for the Western Orangeburg County Industrial Park. The 230-acre park is located northwest of Neeses. About 3,000 feet of the property has S.C. 389 frontage.

The third penny saw about $12.8 million set aside for economic development and the fourth penny, if approved, will allocate $6.7 million to economic development.

The largest chunk of money for economic development in the third penny — about $7.8 million — is set aside for the development of the Global Logistics Triangle and the western industrial park.

The fourth penny

In the fourth penny, $1.2 million is set aside for infrastructure improvements in the western industrial park and another $1 million is for eastern industrial park development and property acquisition.

“We are going to build a new park down on the eastern end of Orangeburg County,” Robinson said. “We have to have future product.”