Stephen Adams, Acting Director of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, talks about the record year Macon-Bibb County had in economic development.
Stephen Adams with Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority and we are coming off of what has been a record year for economic development for Macon-Bibb County. It is something that is unprecedented and hasn’t happened in decades. Over the last twenty to thirty years, the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority has issued in excess of three billion dollars in industrial revenue bonds to benefit and assist with private investment. Just last year we did nearly seven hundred million dollars of that investment. with that seven hundred million dollars brought in a thousand new jobs and over 600 retained jobs.
Our annual average payroll of over 30 million dollars that was not here in this community before. With that investment brings also unprecedented construction and the industrial distribution warehouse. So we are now seeing over two million square feet of industrial and warehouse space under construction today. Something that has not happened, like I said, in over decades. Not only are those great things going on but we’ve also recently brought on an existing industry manager that is taking the pulse of our local existing industries to discover what are the trends, what are we the things that decision-makers need to see so we can better position ourselves for the future.
In addition to that the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority recently held a strategic planning session where we are trying to strategically align our assets so we can better position ourselves as a community so we can be ready for that next big investment.