The taxing situation

Local governments face low cash flow. Raising fees may be their answer.

FEBRUARY 5, 2010 9:16 a.m. (3)

Fast-growing Greer is poised to become the first local government in Greenville County to significantly raise taxes or fees to make up for revenue shortfalls largely caused by state tax law changes.

Unless there is a wholesale revision in the state tax code, or the Upstate economy suddenly goes into high gear, virtually every resident will eventually face local tax or fee increases, or both, experts say.  Continue reading...

 

Free medicine

Spartanburg County's employee clinic gets high marks from patients

FEBRUARY 18, 2010 9:58 a.m. (0)

Tony Bell was visiting the clinic he helped set up for Spartanburg County employees recently, and the clinic’s advising physician happened to be there.

“My shoulder has been bothering me forever and a day,” said Bell, sporting a blue canvas arm sling late last week. “He said, ‘Why don’t you get an MRI?’ I hadn’t gotten back to my office before they were calling me to set it up.”  Continue reading...

 

Profit, no loss

Upstate duo team up to make businesses grow

FEBRUARY 18, 2010 11:22 a.m. (0)

With the economy in bad shape, Ed Young and Terry Dailey last year independently signed up for a course at Greenville Technical College for certification as Six Sigma Black Belts.

Not the high karate rank, mind you, the management processing one that borrows the hierarchical ranking.  Continue reading...

 

More good news than bad

Carolina First Center sees events decline, attendance rise

APRIL 2, 2010 8:21 a.m. (0)

Fewer events are being held at the Carolina First Center, but attendance is rising.

And the convention center which has been named a Facilities and Destinations Magazine 2010 Prime Site Award winner is on track to lose less money this year than it did last year.  Continue reading...

 

Mauldin gets creative

Budget shortfalls mean new ideas for city

APRIL 4, 2010 8:10 p.m. (0)

Every day, Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research and the neighboring Millennium Campus at the edge of Mauldin’s city limits are bringing new business and an increased potential for generating new revenue for the municipality.

And while the city has weathered its share of store closings during the past year, leaders here say residential building construction is beginning to make a resurgence. In the past month, at least three new commercial establishments have opened up along U.S. 276, one of the main traffic arteries through the center of town.  Continue reading...

 

Assets troubled?

A local real estate company is branching out to help

APRIL 4, 2010 9:30 p.m. (0)

A Greenville real estate company has established a division to help financial institutions with troubled assets.

The Marchant Co., founded in 1993 by Seabrook Marchant, will help financial institutions manage troubled assets, such as foreclosures and underperforming properties, by maintaining individual properties or meeting other needs.  Continue reading...

 

County has a budget surplus

Kernell: extra $380,000 due to controlled expenses

AUGUST 26, 2010 10:31 a.m. (0)

Greenville County’s $380,000 budget surplus for the last fiscal year has its roots in conservative business practices and maximizing available resources, county officials have said.

The fact that Greenville has the largest population of any county in the state but ranks 43rd out of 46 counties in the number of employees per 1,000 residents is illustrative, said Joe Kernell, Greenville County administrator.  Continue reading...

 

Denny's income drops

AUGUST 27, 2010 7:08 a.m. (0)

Spartanburg-based Denny’s Corp. net income fell 42 percent in the second quarter, the company reported.  Continue reading...

 

Growth, in the time of recession

Pinnacle Bank adopts a different model for expansion

SEPTEMBER 5, 2010 6:32 p.m. (0)

When the economy was cooking and banks were growing, freshly minted Pinnacle Bank stayed in the slow lane.

Good move.  When the crash came, Pinnacle pulled away from the pile-up unharmed.

“We were not smart enough back in 2005, 2006 to know you were to grow it really fast,” says David Barnett, president and chief executive officer, who led the effort to establish a new community bank in Greenville’s competitive market.  Continue reading...

 

The best place to work?

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 12:30 p.m. (0)

Senior executives of Elliott Davis spent a long night recently at Clemson University to share with faculty the company’s priorities for new employees and to hear what was happening in Clemson’s programs.

Although the fatigued Elliott Davis officers were at their desks bright and early the next day, it was time well spent and an example of management’s commitment to recruiting young talent to the Greenville accounting and consultancy firm, said Bob Wilson, chief human relations officer.

Wilson was asked to cite key practices and policies that have identified Elliott Davis as one of the “best places to work in South Carolina” in a quantitative analysis of company practices and policies combined with surveys of employee attitudes about the workplace.  Continue reading...

 

When debts are made up

The FTC says it happens a lot

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 2:00 p.m. (0)

Debt collectors pressing for payment of a debt that the consumer doesn’t owe is a common beef, said the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a 2010 report on debt collection abuses.

The FTC received 119,364 complaints about third-party and in-house debt collection attempts, according to the report.

In a recent case the FTC reached a $1 million settlement with Credit Bureau Collection Services over accusations the debt collectors inaccurately reported credit information and pressed consumers to pay debts they didn’t owe in violation of federal law.  Continue reading...

 

Economists see bright future here

The state's personal income is expected to grow this year

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 6:59 a.m. (0)

Clemson’s Bruce Yandle sees fiscal year 2010 as when recovery takes hold with 2011 being brighter economically for South Carolina than this year and 2012 as better still in his latest forecast on the state and national economies.

Yandle said the state’s basic economic engine is manufacturing and those numbers add up in the green for South Carolina this year. Other sectors of the economy are undeniably trashed, like construction, and are likely to remain so until the massive debt hangover from the burst housing bubble is paid off or worn down.

The state should see a sharp recovery in the growth of total personal income in the year ahead, Yandle said, and since that growth will be in real income and not inflation adjusted money, it will be the “real deal.”  Continue reading...

 

Caterpillar, lost

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 9:14 p.m. (0)

Caterpillar’s decision to build a new plant in North Carolina, rejecting Spartanburg and Montgomery, Ala., is causing angst and puzzlement across the Upstate.

“I’ve had more people talk to me about Caterpillar and the loss of them than any other project in 20 years, going back to when we recruited BMW,” said H. David Britt, vice chairman of Spartanburg County Council and chairman of the economic recruitment and development committee.  Continue reading...

 

Growing Green

Eco-Mow forges ahead in tough market

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 9:18 p.m. (0)

It’s not easy being green, and, as Chad Lane knows painfully well, it’s even harder if the green you need are dollars to bring an environmentally friendly riding mower to a market wedded to fossil fuels.

It’s been a tough 18 months for Lane’s Eco-Mow, the fledging Spartanburg company he and his wife Janice formed to build battery operated-riding mowers designed, engineered and built by Lane.  Continue reading...

 

And now, Wells Fargo

For former Wachovia, deposits are up and business is on the mend

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 8:48 a.m. (0)

Two years ago, South Carolina employees of Wachovia watched helplessly from afar as marathon wheeling and dealing by regulators and rival bankers fought for control of South Carolina’s largest bank employer.

The future of South Carolina’s 3,500 Wachovia employees and its dominant hold of $11.7 billion in deposits played out in late September 2008 far beyond their influence to reverse pending insolvency not of their making.

“A very painful time,” said Richard Redden, South Carolina president, and Brian Rogers, market president for Greenville and the Upstate, of what had been Wachovia and now is Wells Fargo, if not yet in name.  Continue reading...

 

FHAngst

New regulations from the Federal Housing Administration causing financing woes for some condo buyers

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 1:24 p.m. (0)

Failure of condominiums and their associations to comply with new Federal Housing Administration regulations and lender reluctance to finance purchases without equal compliance is hurting an already difficult condo market.

Only 14 of Greenville’s condominium developments have met the new strictures to qualify for FHA mortgages or, for that matter, financing from conventional lenders who are insisting on equally restrictive or higher lending standards.

Unapproved are some of downtown Greenville’s most exclusive – and pricey – addresses and upscale condominiums fresh on the market.  Nor are most of Greenville County’s long-established modest and low-end condo developments, making re-sales difficult.  Continue reading...

 

Brown Street gets a makeover

Business owners, city hope it will bring new life to upper end of downtown

OCTOBER 11, 2010 2:52 p.m. (0)

Brown Street has an identity crisis.

Most Greenville residents don’t know where it is, even though it is just off Main Street in the upper end of Greenville’s downtown, said Gary Selvaggio, one of the co-owners of Brown Street Jazz Club.

An improvement project started last week is designed to give the Brown Street district its own signature look, increase pedestrian traffic and make the area more attractive to new restaurants and retail businesses.  Continue reading...

 

Upstate counties, by the balance sheet

Greenville County's banking environment "most competitive" in state

OCTOBER 14, 2010 11:29 a.m. (0)

Greenville County holds onto its position as South Carolina’s richest and most competitive banking environment by deposits and banking offices, according to the FDIC’s 2010 summary of market share.

Spartanburg County was fourth in deposits with $4.81 billion, a gain of $600 million, which increased the county’s share of the state deposit market from 6 percent to 6.9 percent. It has 80 banking offices.

Greenville led in deposits with $10.46 billion, down slightly from $10.54 billion reported in the FDIC’s 2009 report. The county’s share of the market declined from 15.10 percent to 14.88 percent.  The number of banking offices remained at 170.  Continue reading...

 

The taxing situation

South Carolina considers an overhaul

NOVEMBER 2, 2010 12:00 a.m. (0)

South Carolina’s business community hopes an opening created by a sales and income tax reform study will reopen what it sees as a job-killing shift of the burden of property taxes onto businesses.

When the legislature convenes in January with sentiment growing for overhaul of tax policy, along with required consideration of the study on sales and income taxes, business lobbyists again will push to repeal the law that raised sales taxes to give property tax breaks to homeowners.

Critics argue that 2006 law effectively placed the lion’s share of paying for K-12 education on business and industry, created a shortage in funding for schools, contributed to the state debt and produced a patchwork of sales tax exemptions, the biggest one being the tax on groceries.  Continue reading...

 

Workforce enabled

When it comes to manufacturing, knowing when to hire and when to let go is a matter of thinking outside the box

NOVEMBER 29, 2010 2:29 p.m. (0)

When BMW needs workers to ramp up production, it turns to a Georgia company for contingent workers.  When it needs to slow down, it lets them go.

With production on the upswing so is hiring of these full-time contingent workers by BMW’s employment partner since 2006, MAU Workforce Solutions of Augusta.

By year’s end, more than 1,600 MAU workers will be on the job, about 23 percent of BMW’s workforce of 7,000 at the Greer plant.  The vast majority are material handlers, such as forklift operators, and other logistic production workers.  Continue reading...

 

This working man can

ETV’s Michael Switzer has had plenty of careers, but it’s radio that keeps him in tune

DECEMBER 3, 2010 2:54 p.m. (0)

Michael Switzer is stockbroker, financial adviser, ice cream vender, entrepreneur, inventor, manufacturer, writer, marketer, retirement counselor.

At 53, he’s done all of those things, sometimes at different times, sometimes all at once.

What runs through it all is the career he never made any money at but is in his blood – radio.  Continue reading...

 

What Hitt means for Haley

New Commerce chief has two decades of S.C. navigating experience

DECEMBER 9, 2010 12:28 p.m. (0)

Robert M. “Bobby” Hitt III’s appointment as Gov.-elect Nikki Haley’s chief at the Department of Commerce bodes well for the state’s economic future, officials with the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance said this week.

Hitt has been BMW’s go-to guy for nearly 20 years in incentive negotiations with the state and has dealt with South Carolina’s last five commerce secretaries. Observers say he has played a key role in one of the state’s biggest business successes.

He is 60 and a 1973 graduate of the University of South Carolina’s College of Journalism. He and wife Gwen have two sons ages 31 and 19 and live in Simpsonville.  Continue reading...

 

Carolina First expands services

Additional employees and hours expected to be added next year

DECEMBER 9, 2010 12:39 p.m. (0)

With the strength of the new ownership of TD Bank, Carolina First will add services and products that will help it regain market share and profitability in South Carolina, the bank’s new regional president said.

“The key for us really is the attitudinal change in the past year because of TD,” said Robert G. Hoak, who was named TD’s regional president for South Carolina and the five offices in Wilmington, N.C.

“The fact that we can be much more proactive than in the past, when our employees feel better, which they do, that will translate to our customers and to the market, and then profit will take care of itself.”  Continue reading...

 

Spartanburg Marriott changes ownership

Included: plans to expand

DECEMBER 12, 2010 1:15 p.m. (0)

Spartanburg’s troubled Marriott at Renaissance Park will be under new ownership around Jan. 1 if all of the pieces fall together, said Greenville’s Andrew Cajka, president of Southern Hospitality Group, one of three partners seeking to close the deal.

The property is under contract with Bridgewater Capital Solutions of Atlanta, the current owner of the hotel building. The city owns the 4.7 acres the hotel occupies.

Changes to the city-owned lease with Bridgewater cleared City Council at first reading Monday and a final reading is on track for approval at next week’s meeting. The changes to the lease would enable SMR Hospitality LLC, the new potential owner, to finalize the sale.  Continue reading...

 

Top 10 scams

Better Business Bureau releases list of what to watch out for

JANUARY 6, 2011 12:30 p.m. (0)

Scam artists are making the most of tough economic times, targeting victims struggling to make ends meet in a down economy, the Better Business Bureau reports.

In a listing of the top 10 scams and rip-offs of 2010, the bureau reported that job seekers and cash strapped families have become popular targets.

“With the economy still on the mend, scammers had a field day targeting struggling families who were looking for work and trying to make ends meet,” said Kathy Barrett, president Better Business Bureau. “While some of the most popular scams are perennial problems that have always plagued consumers, some new additions to the list are signs of our tough economic times.”  Continue reading...

 

Greenville County Council notes

From the Jan. 4 meeting

JANUARY 6, 2011 2:08 p.m. (0)

Greenville County Council Chairman H.G. “Butch” Kirven and Vice Chairman Bob Taylor were re-elected to the top spots on council by acclamation during Tuesday night’s organizational meeting.

Dan Rawls  Continue reading...

 

Centre Stage

Set for a comeback

JANUARY 21, 2011 10:34 a.m. (0)

About three weeks into her new job as executive and artistic director at Centre Stage, Glenda ManWaring started receiving phone calls from creditors.

Then auditors told her they were considering issuing a going-concern opinion, a warning they are required to give when they have substantial doubt about whether a company or entity can survive for another 12 months.

ManWaring said she was not aware of the full extent of the theater’s financial troubles when she took the job.  Continue reading...

 

State agencies misuse credit cards

Right now no one's watching  your state government

JANUARY 27, 2011 3:36 p.m. (0)

Turns out some state employees haven’t been handled state-issued and taxpayer-paid credit cards well.

Some charged items in violation of state policy such as gift cards, hotel rooms and meals, according to a review by the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council.

Some exceeded the state-imposed limit of $2,500 for an individual purchase and others divided the cost of an item to circumvent the limit. In addition, blocks on certain types of merchants such as ABC stores that are required by state policy were not always in place.  Continue reading...

 

The $660 million deficit

Providing healthcare services to poor will contribute to shortfall

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 2:13 p.m. (0)

Allowing the state Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to run a $100 million deficit through the end of the fiscal year has bought the state a little time, but not much else, said Megan A. Weis, associate director of outreach and program development at the South Carolina Public Health Institute.

The state Budget and Control Board voted this week to allow HHS to run a deficit of slightly less than half their projected $225 million funding shortfall in this fiscal year.

The fiscal year ends June 30.  Continue reading...

 

Greer gets its grub on

This city's restaurant owners are doing just fine

FEBRUARY 23, 2011 8:07 a.m. (0)

The City of Greer has experienced a downturn in building permits and other business license revenue, mirroring a national trend over the past three years, but the success of the city’s downtown restaurants has helped offset significant shortfalls in revenue.

”Restaurants in the City of Greer not only held their own during the recession, but they experienced a double-digit increase in customers,” said Reno Deaton, executive director of Greer Development Corporation.  “These businesses may not have been recession proof, but they certainly have proven to be recession resistant.”

Four restaurants have opened in downtown Greer in the past year, another, Mason Jar, is slated to open in the next couple of weeks, said Angela Rutland of Greer Development Corporation.  She said several of the established restaurants are looking to expand as well, but will not comment on which ones.  Continue reading...

 

Aid apparent

Perceptis picks Upstate

APRIL 24, 2011 11:48 a.m. (0)

It was a lovely fall Saturday in downtown Greenville Oct. 22.  Shoppers moseyed through the farmers market.  Models strode the runway for Fashion Greenville.

It was a good day to bring a new company to the city.  And, voila, less than six months later, Perceptis’ call center for higher education is here.

It’s up and running as its own corporate headquarters and to “take the friction out of getting services on college campuses”  – fixing a coed’s online password, walking a parent through financial aid and, well, doing whatever one needs, even directions to the football stadium.  Continue reading...

 

Need a lawyer? They're out there

Some say South Carolina has more lawyers than jobs, others disagree

JUNE 30, 2011 11:48 a.m. (0)

South Carolina, along with just about every other state, is producing far more lawyers than there are jobs, according to Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. or EMSI, but a spokesman for the Charleston School of Law doesn’t believe that’s so.

EMSI said almost twice as many people passed the 2009 South Carolina bar exam (506) as job openings (262).  That’s not the experience of graduates of the Charleston School of Law, said Andrew Brock, school spokesman.

He said the EMSI data appears to be misleading in that it seems to include only lawyers going to law firms.  Continue reading...

 

The Upstate's turtle economy

Slow and steady growth not matched elsewhere in the Palmetto State

MARCH 22, 2012 1:46 p.m. (0)

Recovery from the recession in South Carolina remains slow across the state, with pockets of faster growth in prosperity in metro regions such as in the Upstate and slower growth in more rural areas, according to recent economic forecasts.

In their first quarter regional economic outlook, Wells Fargo economists say economic activity appears to be picking up faster in the Carolinas than elsewhere in the Southeast, but both states have a “number of rough areas.”

While South and North Carolina have not experienced the same severity of boom and bust extremes that have held back Florida and Georgia, “overcoming the hangover from the housing slump” still has been a critical hurdle for both states, the Wells Fargo economists said.  Continue reading...

 

Bi-Lo reassures Upstate it won’t ‘back away’

Grocery company will retain a "reasonable presence" here after headquarters move to Florida

MARCH 22, 2012 1:50 p.m. (0)

As the company finds cost-savings in the merger of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie, jobs will be lost but new ones created when corporate headquarters moves from Mauldin to Florida, Michael Byars, Bi-Lo president said.

Beyond that, Bi-Lo’s purchase of the larger Winn-Dixie gives the combined company of 688 stores and 63,000 employees in eight southeastern states “more opportunity for growth and sharing of ideas than what Bi-Lo or Winn-Dixie could have done as individual companies,” he said. “Our plans are not to just stop with Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo. We want to remodel stores, open new stores and possibly add to our structure as well.”

Byars said it is “totally impossible” at this early stage to determine how many corporate employees in Mauldin will be affected, but the company is committed to “a strong reasonable presence” in Greenville.  Continue reading...

 

Upstate housing sales on the rise

Competitive bidding is returning as prices inch up

JUNE 21, 2012 10:18 a.m. (0)

After four years of buyers holding sway in the housing market, sellers are beginning to see a slow swing of the pendulum toward balance in supply and demand.

“I definitely think it is still a buyers’ market, but there is a decrease in inventory,” said Kathie Gajda, president of the Greater Greenville Realtors Association and broker of Gajda & Gutbrod Real Estate Corner.  Continue reading...