The Spokane Area Economic Development Council plans within the next few months to discuss with its major funding partners raising additional money it says it needs to implement a consultants strategy recommendations.


The EDC had hired Audrey Taylor of Chico, Calif.-based Chabin Concepts Inc. to take information from previous economic studies done here and apply it to the organizations strategic plan, says Jon Eliassen, EDC president and CEO. Taylor helped the EDC identify what role it should play in boosting the regional economy and pinpointed areas in which the Spokane-area economy needs to grow, he says.


Taylor suggests that the EDC seek funding to increase its annual budget to $1.6 million from the current $750,000. She also asserts that the EDC should maintain an annual funding level of at least $3.75 per Spokane-area resident. It currently is at about $1.90 per resident, about 80 cents of which is provided by public funds.


Eliassen says the EDC likely will seek funding of at least $1.4 million for the 2005 operating budget, which he claims isnt excessive considering that the organization operated with a $1.2 million budget 12 years ago. The EDC, which receives funding from Spokane County, the cities of Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Liberty Lake, and from private businesses, has had to cut its expenses as a number of its funding sources have dried up, he says.


All businesses are trying to do more with less these days, he says.


The EDC has spent about $30,000 within the last three months replacing six of its computers, upgrading software, and updating and revising its client database, Eliassen says. The EDC plans to continue to make those types of improvements, and hopes to hire six people to meet some of the needs Taylor identified, he says. It currently employs seven people.


Hiring two specialistsone with labor and workforce-training expertise and another with knowledge of financial incentiveswould help the EDC connect businesses more efficiently with agencies here that provide resources that can be valuable in economic development, Eliassen says. The EDC also would like to hire four people to market Spokane to companies that are interested in moving here and also to local businesses, he says.


We need to become more marketing and sales oriented, rather than waiting for the phone to ring, he says.


Of course, to hire people and pay for marketing costs, the EDC would need more funding, which it might or might not receive, Eliassen says.


In addition to Taylors work for the EDC, she recently examined the Spokane-area economy at the request of a group of remaining board members of the Focus 21 economic-development group. The several previous economic studies that Taylor analyzed to develop her recommendations for the EDC indicate mostly that Spokanes economic growth wont match its population growth, Eliassen says.


According to Taylor, Spokane will need to create 16,000 jobs by 2010 to maintain the current unemployment rate here. Based on calculations of national employment projections and Spokanes current economic base, the economy here should provide about 7,000 jobs in that period, missing the mark by nearly 9,000 jobs.


Taylor also pointed out a number of red flags that imply a need for economic-development strategies, Eliassen says. Those warning signs include Spokanes average wage per job, which is below the U.S. and Washington state averages, and Spokanes unemployment rate, which is 1 percentage point to 1.5 percentage points above the U.S. average.


Despite those negative aspects, Taylor said Spokanes economy has a diverse mix of businesses and a strong presence of sectors with high-paying jobs, Eliassen says. For example, government and education and health services account for 47 percent of Spokane Countys employment, he says.


Taylor told the EDC national trends that show certain industries, such as manufacturing, hospitality, and retail, will grow without any economic-development efforts, Eliassen says. Heightened efforts to grow the economy, however, would boost job creation in other sectors such as research and technology, he says.


Based on those projections, Taylor recommended the EDC focus on the latter sectors, what she calls innovation clusters, to promote growth among businesses with higher-paying jobs, Eliassen says. Since Spokane has a number of innovation clusters, the EDC not only should recruit more businesses to bolster those sectors, but should help grow the ones that already are here, he says.


We have all the pieces, we just need to put them together, he says.


The EDC can boost the Spokane-areas innovation clusters by helping solve business owners problems, such as by finding facilities where they can expand or relocate or by helping them find work-force training, Eliassen says. Connecting businesses with resources will require the help of other organizations, such as the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, the International Trade Alliance, and schools, he says.


The proposed development of a University District here provides an example of how Spokane can develop its innovation clusters, Eliassen says. Efforts made by educators and businesses in the University District area have contributed to what promises to be a new area of economic growth, he says.


Besides assisting the innovation clusters here, Taylor suggested that the EDC and other organizations market the region as an attractive business environment, Eliassen says. The EDC and Inland Northwest Partners have developed a marketing tool, which they call the Power of 2, to promote the regional economy by drawing businesses to both Spokane and Kootenai counties, he says. Inland Northwest Partners is a regional nonprofit economic-development organization made up of more than 300 business leaders from Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Western Montana, and Eastern Oregon.


Kansas City, Mo., developed a similar marketing tool, called 1KC, that has helped attract many businesses to the greater Kansas City area, Eliassen says. Using the Power of 2 moniker might help make the Spokane region more recognizable and help it compete.


Taylor, who has been working on the EDC report since last December, will continue to develop a marketing plan and detailed budget for the agency for the next few months, Eliassen says. The EDC has paid her about $40,000 so far.